DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-16, April 20, 2011 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2011 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html Searchable 2010 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid0.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn WORLD OF RADIO 1561 HEADLINES: *DX and station news from: Albania, Angola, Antarctica, Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Czechia non, France, Greece, Israel non, Kashmir, Libya, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sarawak non, Spain, Sudan non, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, USA, Eton SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1561, April 21-27, 2011 Thu 1500 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Thu 2100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0330 WWRB 2390 5050 [confirmed] Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Fri 2030 WWCR1 7465 [confirmed] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1600 WWCR2 12160 Sat 1730 WRMI 9955 Sat 1800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 1566 1368 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1530 WRMI 9955 Sun 1730 WRMI 9955 Mon 1130 WRMI 9955 Mon 2130 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0100 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 2100 WBCQ 7415 [or 2115, or 2130] Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALASKA. The first half of this week`s `Frontline` on PBS is about the long suppressed history of native child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Alaska, one of whom was involved with KNOM, 780, Nome. From the timeline: ``1956 -- Father James E. Poole, S.J., receives his first assignment in Alaska as pastor in the Native villages of Mountain Village, Pilot Station and Marshall. Poole becomes the host of a popular Catholic radio program at KNOM in Nome and, in 1978, is named one of Alaska's hippest DJs by People magazine.`` Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/timeline/#ixzz1KI8kSmzZ Main page and video, comments: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/ Introduxion: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/etc/introduction.html (Glenn Hauser, April 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. 11870, KNLS, *1200 4/12 English program fair with sign-on (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Site KNLS made another amendment in the schedule. Here's how it looks for programs in Russian: 08.00-09.00-9655 16.00-17.00-9655 17.00-18.00-9655 the time is UTC (Dmitry Kutuzov. Ryazan / "deneb-radio-dx" via RusDX via DXLD) In connection with problems on the old transmitter (to put it simply, he again broken), has once again changed the schedule KNLS. Look it is possible here: http://www.knls.net/rus/schedule.htm But for those who listen in Russian, here's an excerpt from it: 0800 9655 kHz Russian (azimuth 285) 1600 and 1700 9655 kHz Russian (azimuth 315) Information obtained from Constantine Chernushenko, Alaska (Vasily Gulyaev, Astrakhan, Russia / "open_dx") via RusDX via DXLD) ** ALBANIA [and non]. 13640, Radio Tirana; 1849-1858*, 15-Apr; English, Radio Tirana News. IS before s/off. SIO=3+43 with co-channel wailing music--sounded like Arabic after Tirana s/off (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13625, April 16 at 0527 just after monitoring R. Dabanga on 13620 --- see SUDAN [non], I notice that a station has appeared on 13625 which was vacant a few minutes earlier: playing jazz music, variations on ``Hit the Road, Jack``. What in the world? YL then mentions Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis. Shortly, several IDs for Radio Tirana, and a www. website; ``Ju Flet Tirana``, songs. Fair-good signal, flutter, good modulation. Slightly on the low side of 13625- compared to Vatican on 11625 (which could have been on the hi side). But Tirana cut off 13625 at 0536:40*. This also explains my previous ``UNIDENTIFIED. 13625, April 6 at 0518 open carrier between Dabanga 13620 and Australia 13630, and I think there was some modulation on it before 0515; nothing listed by HFCC or Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` R. Tirana is not scheduled on 13625 at this time, only for the English to NAm at 1430-1500 Mon-Sat. Evidently tests are carried out much earlier relaying domestic service in Albanian, which really does not start on SW until 0630 on 7390 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13640, April 16 at 2023 check, heavy collision at equal levels still between R. Tirana, rightful occupant, English to North America, and usurper All India Radio, French to Europe. RT is aware of the problem now ongoing for a semimonth, and being urged to move, but the bureaucracy takes its time; meanwhile it`s unlistenable. 13625, April 18 at 1443, R. Tirana English to North America in the clear, fluxuating S7 to S9+5, but just barely modulated; useless. Radio Tirana is expected to change from 13640, usurped by INDIA, to 13735 as of April 20 for the Mon-Sat English broadcasts at 1845-1858 and 2000-2028 13735, R. Tirana confirmed on new frequency, April 20 at 1845, now in the clear but weak signal and modulation today; could barely make out that old 13640 was still being announced in the complete English schedule which takes up the first two minutes of every transmission. All India Radio now have 13640 to themselves, bullies. Also same at 2000 for the next English broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 7216.78, Rádio Nacional, 2113, Portuguese, fair with lively vocals and male DJ. Best in USB to escape presumed CRI on 7215. 1 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. 6090, April 15 at 1008 UT, DGS is still pontificating past nominal 1000 switch to day frequency 11775, and even at 1019, but gone at next check 1031; by 1046, 11775 was on air with successor PMS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 finally back in business, following sporadic logs of it past two days, and Roberto Scaglione`s news that they hoped to have all the problems solved by April 14 for 1230-1500 transmissions (presumably M-F only) --- 1228 tune-in April 14 to open carrier, fading up from S6 to peaks of S9+10. 1229 YL says ``Transmite LRA36 . . . 15476``. Copy is still marginal but definite. Into music, 1234 ID also mentioning full name ``Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel`` . . . (as in DXLD 11-15, via WORLD OF RADIO 1561) 15475.9, LRA36 back. R Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, at *1210-1351 UT on Thur Apr 14, back on the air with music after several months being silent. At 1230 UT ID and the Argentine National Anthem, Spanish announcement: "We present the first program "Amanecer Austral (Southern Dawn)" by its presenter, Ms. Lydia Guzman", presentation of partners, ID, phone and mail address, music, 35443 improving to 45444 (Hugo López, Chile, via Anker Petersen, Denmark, DXplorer Apr 15 via BCDX April 20 via DXLD) 15476, LRA36 (presumed), 1408-1436, April 14. YL clearly in Spanish, but too weak to ID; played a few ballads; signal going downhill the whole time. Nice to have them back (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, after LRA36`s official reactivation yesterday, I am listening again April 15 from 1229, with vocal music already in progress. After a pause, 1232 sign-on by YL, program `Amanecer Austral` (southern dawn), then talk mixed with same happy theme song heard yesterday, ``Soy Feliz``. 1242, LRA36 ID in passing with music. Signal is a bit better than April 14, reading S9 to peaks of S9+10. 4- kHz het from 15480 is also stronger so helps to side-tune-down a bit. Still good with mostly music at 1305, 1329 chex, but by 1358 has declined to JBA, S4-9 at best. Perhaps peak reception area has shifted to west coast as Ron Howard was getting it after 1408 yesterday but weaker and weaker. The April 14 audio clip I linked in previous report via Roberto Scaglione, he says was made ``in Argentina by our contributor Marcello Caneva``, and must have started around 1230. Listening to that http://www.bclnews.it/110414-15476-1230z.mp3 there is a lot of spoken info. The three women announcing ``en la producción y conducción`` are Lidia Guzmán, Mónica García [the 41- year-old nurse], and Vanesa ---. Their husbands are involved in base support., etc. They agree they are at 63 degrees south, and the schedule after this `first broadcast` is M-F 9:30-12 [1230-1500 UT]. Also mentioned names of several other people involved including: Dirección, Teniente Coronel Guillermo Bolger(?); Coordinación General de la Radio, Teniente Coronel Pablo González. Phone 0810-222-0760 (or 0770?), and added 02-16, as extension? Totally different from the one in WRTH 2011. E-mail LRA36 @ infovia.com.ar which is the address I have used twice recently without any reply. Clarifying the phone number above, Horacio A. Nigro in Uruguay says: According to http://www.marambio.aq/radioarcangelsangabriel.html the phone nr. is 0810-222-0770. There appears another email address: lra36esperanza @ yahoo.com.ar I`m afraid much of the info on that page should be considered historical rather than current. I wonder how much power they are using now, what kind of antenna and direxionality? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476: Very faint pop music around 2230 Z heard, but doubt if "LRA36" possibly "ATA" Radio Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel. No ID heard. Conditions really good over last week, and improving daily (Dallas McKenzie, 2249 UT April 14, D.....-41.36 S, Nthn Buller, N.Z., NZRDXL, IARU Monitor. http://www.freewebs.com/zl3sqth/ Receivers:- Yaesu FRG 77OO,.... Kenwood R-1000,.... Uniden UBCT8,.... National RF- B300, & various others, (Degen DE1125,Sony.. ICF-SW7600G,.. Icom Pcr 10000,.. Sangean ATS 818acs) plus a Tono -550 Comm Decoder, & Microcraft "Morse-a-word"; 146 ft long wire (E to W), ..20ft Whip,.. 6 element Discone, & Several Commercial VHF/UHF antennas, using a "Welz"Multi Ch Antenna Switch, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) la estoy escuchando con nuy buena señal en los espacios musicales (44444)pero cuando modula la locutora naja considerablemente la señal ahora programa Amanecer Austral. musica y moticias, 12.29 UTC emision de versiòn del Himno Nacional Argentino (Alguien me puede explicar porque esa difrencia de señal y de audio entre la musica y la locuciòn gracias (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, 1239 UT April 15, condiglist yg via DXLD) 15476, RN Arcángel, San Gabriel. April 15, 1217-1243 Spanish pop, romantic, rock music selections, 1233 female ID “la LRA 36”, “Buenos días, comienzan una nueva reunión de amigos, información y mucho más”, back to Spanish Rock. Studio talks with lower audio level than when is playing music, at peak 44333. 73’s (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, April 18 at 1229-1233+ music, very poor but enough to confirm LRA36 is on the air today; by 1432 no carrier detectable, supposed to run until 1500. 15476, April 19 at 1253, LRA36 very poor with some music audible; peaking around 1305, YL talk in Spanish, seems undermodulated. Caught a few words such as ``Segunda Guerra Mundial``, ``Varsovia``, and referred to many different years before and after, evidently a ``Today in History`` feature. Stations which can`t do justice to News instead feature Olds (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36. Glenn was hearing this April 19 from about 1253 to 1305, but when I checked at 1408 there was no trace of a carrier. Early sign off? This on a day when 19m had some unusual propagation (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476.02 Uninterrupted pop and folk music, mostly in Spanish, observed here 19 April from 1907 UT tune in until abrupt closing at 2050:12. The frequency, deep cyclic fading and the fact that the signal is best on my southeast EWE antenna suggests this might have been LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel testing. If them, its the best signal level ever for me from LRA36. A pity their scheduled broadcast time nowadays is in the middle of the night for us in the South Pacific. Rechecked 20 April but nothing heard at 2000 (Bryan Clark Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus 100 metre BOG to NE), dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Bryan, Had them same day, prior to 1900, as that's when I'm getting ready for work. Did not hear an ID but frequency and music selection makes LRA-36 most likely prospect. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1561) Their email is still inactive. They will be on the air again on Monday; tomorrow and Friday it's holiday (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, http://www.bclnews.it April 20, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1561) 15476, LRA36, April 20 at 1335 has very poor but detectable signal, on meter ranging S9 to S9+8 peaks, averaging S9+5. Music slightly better modulated than talk, as other listeners in the Southern Cone have also noted --- perhaps inexperienced announcers are not projecting enough, mike-shy, and/or board operators are not peaking the talk high enough. Natural pitch of voices also is critical for readability in such marginal reception conditions. 1345 made out a mention of LRA36, and a little better at 1356, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel. Still audible at last check 1424, carrier with occasional audiobits. The day before, altho I heard them around 1305, Ron Howard in California was not hearing them after 1400, perhaps closed early (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Novedades en AM --- Amigos de la Lista, 740 KHz, RADIO CIUDAD DE LANUS (Remedios de Escalada) ha dejado de emitir en esta frecuencia, y al parecer se habría "transformado" en la nueva emisora activa en 850 KHz (RADIO REBELDE) conforme información "filtrada" de un programa emitido por su emisora hermana "AM 1140 RADIO INDEPENDENCIA" (1140 KHz). Recordemos que RADIO REBELDE (AM 850 KHz) salió al éter inmediantamente después de haber dejado las ondas Radio Ciudad de Lanús en 740 KHz. Radio Ciudad de Lanús hubo ocupado casi todo el dial de AM en diferentes etapa de su vida (Ex 1320, 1560 y 1450 kHz -en ese orden- y temporalmente activa en 1160 y 1020 kHz). La estación era propiedad de la familia Suárez, encabezada por el Sr. Oscar N. Suárez, quien además opera -como dijimos- AM 1140 Radio Independencia de Remedios de Escalada (Ex 1430 y 1320 kHz), y además el nuevo canal de TV en UHF (Canal 31 "Lanús Televisión") y una nueva FM en 100.1 MHz. Todo ello conforma un multimedio "ultra-Kirchnerista ", conforme es fácil advertir viendo los auspicios "oficiales" y las fotos publicadas en las Web: http://www.radioindependencia.com.ar y http://www.lanustelevision.com.ar Lo cierto es que las dos radios de AM estaban "protegidas" políticamente tanto por el Gobierno Comunal como por el Nacional, pues Radio Ciudad se trataba de una "Emisora Comunitaria Auspiciada por la Secretaria de Cultura y Medios de Presidencia de la Nación" y Radio Independencia de una "Emisora comunitaria declarada de Interés Cultural por Decreto Nº 1378/99 del Gobierno Municipal de Lanús desde año 1993", según información suministrada por las propias emisoras.- 1530 kHz, RADIO LA ROCA, emisora de tipo religiosa evangélica de carácter "no oficial" que fuera reportada hace un tiempo a esta parte, posee su QTH en la calle Fardman 4640 de la localidad de Gregorio de Laferrere, Partido de La Matanza, Provincia de Buenos Aires. Tel: (011) 4626-7749 (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, April 13, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6060, April 15 at 1024, Andean music, very weak compared to Nikkei 6055 adjacent. Then talk on 6060 also sounds like Japanese. 1030 timesignal and continues talk in Japanese. Thought it might be from Asia, until consulted Aoki, not HFCC, reminding us that RAE does do Japanese here at 10-11. I wonder how well that makes it to Japan, considering the competition; see also JAPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RAE heard here prior to 1000 0n 6060. At 1000 had announcements and mentions of Argentina and "RAE" then off at 1002. 19 April 2011. RAE, 6060, heard here today with time pips at 1000, then into RAE ID's in several languages, and presumed Japanese beginning at 1003, unlike yesterday when they left the air at 1002 or so. Good signal. 20 April, 2011 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11710.78, RAE, 0201 multi-lingual IDs by M and W over instrumental music. English program started at 0202 with rundown, promo, then M and W hosts chatting away. Acknowledged listeners and requests. Fairly decent signal. (16 April) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. 17855, April 18 at 0524, good signal, in fact the SSOB, with informal Chinese conversation, one side on the phone. 0540 quite a bit weaker, with a bit of the `diamond` theme R. Free Asia uses, and now there may be some CCI = jamming. This RFA is 03-07, 100 kW, 310 degrees from SAIPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Late Night Live --- It seems I'm not the only one who absolutely, positively must spend his morning with Late Night Live, and is disappointed to see it gone from RA's lineup on shortwave. It's still possible to hear Phillip Adams and his guests. Go to ABC's Radio National site, and listen live at the usual time, or get the audio from LNL's page. I get the podcast and listen as I go around town. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ (Dan Malloy, USA, April 14, ODXA yg via DXLD) I pretty much use that approach for most of what I listen to nowadays. Even if podcasts aren't directly offered, software like Replay Media Catcher can grab on-demand audio and convert to a portable format (MP3, WMA, AAC) for transfer to an MP3 player, iPod, or smartphone. Since I am not of retirement age (and, with a daughter in 7th grade, I have 9 years minimum until I'm done paying for college, so I won't be at retirement age any time soon), much of my free time is either in the car or doing something other than sitting at a shortwave radio. That's one reason that, if I highlight shortwave air times here on the list, I'll also highlight live and on-demand Internet options. To John Figliozzi's point the other day, while it's great that RA is able to produce more of its own programming now and rely less on Radio National relays for its target Asian and Pacific audiences, much of what RN produces is among the best-produced radio on the radio, and it's great that RN has one of the most accessible website (and audio availability) of any English-language public service broadcaster. (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) My previous headline that R. Australia has been ``dumbed-down`` may have been a tad too harsh. We do have pop music, time & temp, vapid DJ chatter, but mixed with talk segments, such as 9580 and 9590, April 18 at 1313 interview by someone else with Deborah Davis, author of ``Disconnect`` about the dangers of cellphones to brains and gonads. 1321 enough of that! Gotta play some rap, in this magazine format for typical RA listeners with severely impaired attention spans and horrible taste in `music`. Can`t have a full hour or even a semihour of straight talk, intellexual stimulation! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 6020, April 15 at 0944, heavy collision between R. Australia, and RNW in Dutch via BONAIRE, at 0930-1000, reduced weekends to only -0957. I am rather amazed that several stations choose to collide with RA on 6020 --- also Perú, Vatican/Philippines, Japan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11549.85, 16/4 2235 Radio Australia, via Taiwan, in Bahasa Indonesia, talks & interview mentioning many times Australia // 11695. Fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Australia spurs --- Hi Glenn, Nigel [Pimblett], Don [Moman] and myself are at Don's antenna farm for the weekend. I noticed this morning at 1500 UT Radio Australia on 7340 kHz weak // 7240 kHz Very Good. Confirming with Don that it was not a local mixing issue here he mentioned that he also noticed thru the winter that RA was detected on 7140 kHz, which we again confirmed this morning. Checking further up and down 100 kHz we did not detect RA anywhere else. 73 (Mick Delmage, AB, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17800, April 18 at 0524 heard some English, some Indonesian, RA via PALAU during this semihour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 0630, R. Australia was audible on 17750 (co-channel with Iran in Hausa), 15415 (no trace of CNR-8 now), 15240 (in loud splash x CRI German on 15245), 15160, 13690 and 13630(poor). Unfortunately, RDP Portugal is spoiling reception of 15160 (São Gabriel listed 144 deg to Africa from 0700) with a loud signal, and by switching their transmitter on at varying times between about 0635 and sometimes after 0700. Australia goes until 0800 and would be audible on a clear frequency. After 0700 the best RA frequency is 11945 while 9475 and 9710(this one // 13630 with an alternative programme to the other two) were well audible. 9580 and a weaker 9590 were audible from 0800 but both suffer from flutter and 9580 has QRM x 9575 Medi-1 (Noel R. Green (NW England), April 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. What is Listening? --- I subscribe to a number of email newsletters from ABC/Radio Australia. This program caught my eye: This Sunday The Night Air asks what is listening? We'll get hear some not so simple answers from Oslo Davis a professional eavesdropper, various ear mechanics and a couple of people with unique perspectives on the world of sound; a former music retailer Greg Hartney, who suffers from nerve deafness and radio broadcaster Glen Morrow who is legally blind. Brain waves, sound waves, shock waves....radio waves - angels and angst, memory and message. Tune in to ABC Radio National Sunday evening 8:3o or download it here: http://bit.ly/hWfq57 Lots more downloads at our website - try these other ear burning adventures: Brixton Uprising! http://bit.ly/f4eApc Futures: http://bit.ly/e5Uo7m Light and shade http://bit.ly/dUviTi Bike Love http://bit.ly/duOdso Paranoid http://bit.ly/asrfbB Podcast feed: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/night.xml Twitter: abcthenightair Email: nightair_rn @ your.abc.net.au We're all ears ^_^ Broadcast Part One Sunday at 8.30pm, repeated the following Friday at 9.30pm. Part Two Sunday at 9.05pm, repeated the following Saturday midnight. (via Fred Waterer, April 16, ODXA yg via DXLD) To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering. - Clive Cussler http://www.doghouse charlie.com [Fred`s tagline] The program has a rather enigmatic description: "The Night Air: Radio abstraction for listening pleasure. "Animated by dub versions of ABC Radio National’s distinctive programming, obliquely connected material is re-assembled with sonic glue allowing the listener’s imagination to build a new story. The Night Air is a space to find the music in speech and the poetry in ideas, a show that invites you to take time to unravel the usual media tangle." See http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/about/ Thanks for the heads-up, Fred, that looks like it's worth a listen. (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 15400, April 18 at 1235, HCJB with slow- English talk about lead poisoning. It`s the `Spotlight` program produced by FEBA for English learning and stealth religious indoctrination, M-F 1230-1245. Good signal but with flutter, also infesting so many extracontinental emissions on the bands today during propagation disturbance (but not all, e.g. Turkey 15450). 15340, the other HCJB frequency, at 1235 sounds like Burmese, but axually listed as Rawang for Myanmar, without the flutter. The only outgoing difference from these adjacent Kununurra transmitters is that 15400 is on an antenna aimed 340 degrees, while 15340 is 307 degrees. At 1433, 15340 still in the clear with Morocco on 15345 instead of waiting until 1500 to move from 15341 --- but don`t count on it. HCJB language during this quarter-hour on Mondays is Kuruk, followed M-F by `Spotlight` again at 1445 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 6010.00, 0140-0150 16.04, R Bahrain, Abu Hayan (presumed), non-stop British pop songs, QRM Colombia weak in Spanish, but Belarus was off the air tonight! 33432. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX- ing on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN/BELARUS. 6010.00, 2350-2400 12.04, R Bahrain, Abu Hayan (tentative), Non-stop British pop music, at 0000 timesignal, but music continued without any announcement Cf. Belarus. 44444 AP-DNK 6010.00, 0005-0015 14.04, Belaruskaje Radyjo 1, Brest, Belarusian ann, local songs, late broadcast! 33433 heard // 6040 (24232, 6070 (35333) and 6080 (25232) (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) ** BELARUS. 11930, fair-poor with time pips, "Belaruskoje Radyjo" ID & news in presumed Belorussian *0400 4/16 (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4716,698, 13.4 2330, Radio Yatun Ayllu, Yura. Hade sign on 22.20 och close down 02.30. Frekvensen vid sign on var 4716,687. Sedan gled den upp och pendlade mellan 4716.698 och 4716.699. AHK 4716,701, 15.4 0210, Radio Yatun Ayllu, med c/d. Lite högre i frekvens än dagen innan. AHK 4716.698, 13.4 2330, Radio Yatun Ayllu, Yura. Sign on 2220 and close down 0230. The frequency at sign on was 4716.687. Then the frequency was shifted upwards and finally varied between 4716.698 and 4716.699. 4716.701, 15.4 0210, Radio Yatun Ayllu, with close/down. A little higher in frequency than the day before (Anders Hultqvist, Dalarö, (Stockholm Archipelago), Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4795,965 13.4 2330 Radio Lipez Bolivia ganska stark vid denna tid, men mycket atmosfäriska störningar och med c/d 00.30. AHK 4795.965, 13.4 2330, Radio Lípez, rather strong at this time but lots of atmospheric noise. Close/down at 0030 (Anders Hultqvist, Dalarö, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4795.97, R. Lípez, Uyuni, Saturday Apr 9, 2011, at 0220- 0438 UT s/off. Another extended transmission on Friday evening (Bolivian time). Perhaps not every Friday but always when I heard Radio Lipez it was on Saturday morning of our Central European Time. (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, April 13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 20 via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.951, Radio San Miguel, 1108, Spanish, fair with local vocals, comments by a man, weak CODAR QRM. 16 April (David Sharp, NSW) 4717.24, Radio Yura, 1059, presumed, Andean vocals, into news after 1100. Bothered by ute traffic after 1100, making copy difficult. 16 April. (David Sharp, NSW) 4795.97, Radio Lípez, 1050, good with mensajes by man, into comments by a second man, who gave a time check. 16 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise- reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOTSWANA. 621, R Botswana. Selebi-Phikwe // 945, 1071, 1350. 2011/04/13 wed 1805-1816 News in English. SeTswana from 1810. Fair, slight lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1555. 621, R Botswana. Selebi-Phikwe // 621, 1071, 945. 2011/04/15 fri 1930- 2013 SeTswana. Afro music. YL DJ refered to "afro musica". Good at first, became a bit buzzy after 1950 (like // 945). Local Sunset 1553. 945, R Botswana. Gabarone // 621, 945, 1071, 1350. 2011/04/13 wed 1806-1816 News in English. SeTswana from 1810. Fair signal, much lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1555. 945, R Botswana. Gabarone // 621, 1071, 1215. 2011/04/15 fri 1930- 1940, SeTswana. Afro music. YL DJ referred to "afro musica". Poor; hidden by bad buzzing noise which doesn't seem to be locally generated. Local Sunset 1553. 1071, R Botswana. Jwaneng // 621, 945, 1350. 2011/04/13 wed 1804-1816 News in English, SeTswana from 1810. Fair, slight lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1555. 1071, R Botswana. Jwaneng // 621, 1071, 945. 2011/04/15 fri 1930-2004 SeTswana. Afro music. YL DJ refered to "afro musica". Good at first, but modulation kept cutting on and off after 1957. Became irritating to listen to. Local Sunset 1553. 1215, R Botswana. Mahalapye // 1071, 621, 945. 2011/04/15 fri 1930- 2029, SeTswana. Afro music. YL DJ refered to "afro musica". Good. Best of the four // frequencies received here. Local Sunset 1553. 1350, R Botswana. Tsabong // 621, 945, 1071. 2011/04/13 wed 1806- 1816, News in English, SeTswana from 1810. Poor, Weak signal with lots of lightning QRN and other noise. Local Sunset 1555 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9820, Rádio 9 de Julho, São Paulo, 0550-0601, 19-04, Portuguese, relaying Rádio Aparecida program "Com a Mãe Aparecida", male "Santuário Nacional, Rede Aparecida de Evangelização", "Com a Mãe Aparecida, 3 horas, 1 minuto". 34433. This station can be listened sporadic here with good signal in the early morning. Only one or two days on air in a week (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11780, RNA, April 14 at 2354 as I tuned across was finishing a promo about inaugurating a new 50 kW MW transmitter at 7 am local on April 18 for RNB, then ID for this as ``Rádio Nacional Amazônia, Brasília, uma emissora EBC – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação``. If a frequency was mentioned for the new 50 kW, I missed it. Don`t see anything about it on website http://www.ebc.com.br/ but may refer to RNB 800 kHz, as the Amazon MW frequency 980 has a 250 kW transmitter run at somewhat lower power, and 50 kW would hardly be anything to brag about there. However, WRTH 2011 shows 800 as Rádio MEC with 10/1 kW in Brasília and 100 kW no Rio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11855, April 15 at 0957 ``Aparecida`` ID in passing, with usual low het we also hear in other dayparts since this station is always off-frequency. I suppose the competition was WYFR in Spanish, so lucky to have surpassed it; also on 11855 for long hours is Saudi Arabia. 11765 SRDA was in better, but who wants to listen to David Miranda wail? Besides himself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11925.2, 0257, Rádio Bandeirantes back here 22/3 after period of absence. Has distinctive time pips every 15 minutes, Portuguese commercial programming. // 9645.35 also fair (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 15190.2, Rádio Inconfidência, 0925-1005, 13-04, Brazilian songs, comments, Portuguese. 24322. Also 0902-0915, 19-04, Brazilian song, identification by male: "Inconfidência. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [non]. - A Rádio Miami Internacional abriu espaço, em sua grade de programação, para um programa idealizado por Waldecy Oliveira, que mantém uma Ong de preservação do meio ambiente, com sede em Ariquemes (RO). É a Interoceânica Rádio Sem Fronteira que poderá ser sintonizada, na freqüência de 9955 kHz, entre 0900 e 1000, no TU, com reprise entre 2200 e 2300, no TU. As transmissões ocorrem somente aos sábados. Quem sintonizar a transmissão poderá enviar um informe de recepção para o seguinte endereço: Caixa Postal 139, CEP: 76873-439, Ariquemes (RO), Brasil. http://blog.romais.jor.br/ (via Sarmento Campos, radioescutas yg via DXLD) I was wondering what that new show is about; but the WRMI program grid shows the repeat at 2230-2330 (gh, DXLD) ** BULGARIA. 11700, April 15 at 0129 ID as ``Radio Bulgarie Internationale``, so we have another RBI? In English it`s just R. Bulgaria. Checking their French site, http://bnr.bg/sites/fr/Pages/default.aspx We also see only ``Radio Bulgarie`` and no Internationale, so maybe the announcer was really saying non-capitalized ``internationale`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. QSL: Democratic Voice of Burma, 11515 - P. O. Box 6720, St. Olavs Plass - 0130 Oslo - Norvegia, con lettera in 401 giorni. v/s Nanthikarn Khetcharatsaeng, Executive Administration Officer. 1 IRC (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, April 15, shortwave yg via DXLD) Anyone care about the site? That would have been at the end of the B-09 season, I think, mid-March 2010, but no 11515 listing for anything in Aoki A-09, B-09, or A-10! Was it a follow-up from an even earlier season? (gh, DXLD) ** CAMBODIA [non]. CLANDESTINE. 9960, The Khmer Post Radio (tentative), Palau, 1233-1240, April 17, Khmer: via HBN with 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs, report with music and news or talk by male & female, 2.4.3.2.2 New station!!!!!!!!!!! (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6069.985, CFRX Toronto, 0824, tune-in to program of stand- up comedy, into ad break at 0826. Mention of "News-talk 10-10" at 0828. 28 March (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Notes on CBC Overnight --- Seems like RA's `Connect Asia` is on 5 nights a week at 4:05 AM local Tu-Sa. At 5 AM local, it`s two BBC programs. `The Link` remains on weekdays 2-4 AM. No sign of the BBC business program now - at least at these hours. Don't believe the web site! (Andy Reid, Ont., April 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Lots of watts wasted with open carriers during my April 15 monitoring, including 9625 with hum, CBCNQ transmitter still on the air at 0509 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [non] Martí; RUSSIA; USA: WBCQ; UNIDENTIFIED 17730 Sackville on Panoramio --- More "newish" images of Sackville SW site. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25996447 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25996446 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25996445 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25996443 (Ian Baxter, NSW, April 19, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Radio Canada International, Sackville transmitter site, 11655 kHz. 1535 UT 04/15/2011 English / French, 45544. Strange one. Continuous loop of interval signal and bi-lingual station ID, over and over. Still going at 1645. Big signal S-9 + 10Db (Nick Rumple, Kannapolis, North Carolina, U.S.A., Yaesu FRG-100, 125 foot longwire 40 feet high running East to West, shortwavelistening yg via DXLD) RCI gets `stuck` sometimes or is testing? This was an overrun of the NHK relay until 1500 on same (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. CKLN Update http://theeyeopener.com/2011/04/ckln-88-1fm-ceases-broadcast/ (via Artie Bigley, April 17, DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. [Re 11-15] Information from Facebook from April 1: ICDI - Integrated Community Development International --- Josué Mbami, head of Radio ICDI in Boali just let us know that our second frequency is scheduled to go live today (April 1)! Besides our normal 6 am-noon programming on 6040 kHz, we'll now be broadcasting from 4 to 10 pm on 3390 kHz! This new frequency gives us many more hours of effective coverage, and will have less interference from other stations. Exciting news, Josué! TN (via Thomas Nilsson, SW Bulletin April 17 via DXLD) 3390, R. ICDI, Apr 10 2020-2101, 25232-25222, French, Talk and afro pops music, ID at 2028, Thanks for tip from "BCL World tanutanu" Blog 3390, R. ICDI, Apr 11 2020-2050, 25332, French, Talk and chorus music, ID at 2025 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) 3389,996 13.4 2045 Radio ICDI Boali hördes svagt. AHK 3389.996, 13.4 2045, Radio ICDI, Boali, rather weak (Anders Hultqvist, Dalarö, (Stockholm Archipelago), Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3390 14.4 2000 Radio ICDI, CAR, men bara tentativt – inget ID. FF prat och musik, men mycket svag. Bara på LSB, annat är täckt av CWQRM. Ingen rapport ännu! BEFF 3390, 14.4 2000, Radio ICDI, CAR, No ID – only tentative logging. French talk and music. Rather weak. Only audible in LSB; everything else covered with CWQRM. No report yet! (Björn Fransson, Visby, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3389.996, tentative, R ICDI, Central African Republic --- Yesterday with 99% certainty R ICDI was heard until sign off at 2106 UT on this rather new frequency (started April 1). Signal strength yesterday just above noise level. The station is audible again tonight just now with a little bit better signal. 73 (Thomas Nilsson, 1939 UT April 14, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I had been checking for Radio ICDI on 3390 some months ago but had got out of the habit. Now I can confirm hearing them on 3390. 3390, Radio ICDI, 13/04/2011, 1858 talk but muffled audio (possibly French), 1900 ID for Radio ICDI, then music. Still on air at 2102 but off when checked again at 2124. 14/01/2011, already on air by 1758. So far I haven't heard a daytime frequency. I think the station I am hearing on 6030 is probably R. Oromiya (James MacDonell (Niger State, Nigeria), 1935 UT April 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3390.00, 1830-0300 16-18.04, R. ICDI, Boali, faint signal with glimpses of hymns and vernacular talk, 15111 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX-ing on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) I assume that ``-0300`` is a typo, but for what? (gh, DXLD) 3390 kHz ICDI presumed --- On Sunday evening, April 17, I was in Bocca di Magra, at the seaside, and I could monitor the frequency of 3390 kHz. I also could listen to ICDI (CAF), I presume, at about 1900-1930, with talks and some music, no id heard. The signal was very weak, but the channel was free of interferences and noises. I tried again around 2230 but there was no more signal. Signal off or propagation out? I can't say. The receiver was the RF-Space SDR-IQ and the antenna the Wellbook LFL 1010 loop. 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, April 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake April 15: 15900, good at 1245 10300, good at 1250 10970, fair at 1250 No others found between 19 and 8 MHz. 15900 reception strength and fading was very much like CRI English on 17490, Chinese on 17650 before 1300, making me suspect the same site for this Firedrake, i.e. Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. Firedrake April 16: 7970, poor at 1242; a new one tnx to SOH, and not on 8400, to 1300* 9170, sounded like Firedrake music, but not // others, and 1300 CJKT spoken ID. Aoki says the CNR-6 service from Beijing 491 site 10300, fair at 1257-1259* off a minute before not // 7970 14700, VG at 1326 and // VP 7970 back on 15670, poor at 1328 mixing with something, i.e. RFA Tibetan via Tajikistan, and // 14700; no others up to 17 MHz by 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake April 17: 7970, fair at 1237. Again nothing on 8400, replaced by this? 10300, good at 1250, much stronger than 10965/10970; poor at 1316 10965, poor at 1248 // 10970 about equal level; poor at 1316; poor at 1333, obscured by stronger // 10970, also // 16980 10970, poor at 1248 // 10965 about equal level; gone at 1316; back on good at 1332 // 14950 11150, open carrier with Firedrake-like flutter 1245-1246* Else? 13920, poor at 1253; poor at 1352 with RTTY QRM 14700, fair at 1253 and not // 10300 14950, good at 1327 15430, fair at 1339 // 16100; vs V. of Tibet via UAE 15560, fair at 1349 // 16100, before Portugal is on from 1400. What`s to jam here? HFCC shows: ``15560 1300 1400 44 DB 100 70 1234567 270311 291011 D TJK NEW WRN 16445 res`` -- I guess that means in reserve. However, Aoki shows: 15559 1330-1342 TJK * VOICE OF TIBET Chi Dushanbe-Ya 1-7 15562 1335-1407 TJK * VOICE OF TIBET Tib Dushanbe-Ya 1-7 15670, sometimes with FD, but not now at 1349, something in Chinese(?). Maybe 15560 was a mispunch for this? Or CNR1 jamming instead against R. Free Asia in Tibetan via Tajikistan 16100, good at 1328 and // 16980; better than 16980 at 1333; was listening to 16100 when it cut off at 1400* 16980, good at 1256, fair at 1327; // 10965, 10970, 16100 at 1333 Firedrake April 18: 7970, very poor at 1254 10300, poor at 1253 12180, poor at 1249. Nothing listed, but Sound of Hope probable target; Aoki shows 12165, 12175, 12190 via Tajikistan at various times 13060, fair at 1247 with flutter; new one 14700, poor at 1247 with heavy flutter; no others up to 18 MHz 15670, poor at 1241 mixing with presumed Tibetan, RFA via TAJIKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake, 1253, April 18. 7970, 10300, 10965 and 14700 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TAIWAN, for real logs of Sound of Hope Firedrake April 19: 7970, fair at 1236 10300, good at 1255 10965, poor at 1316, not earlier; and now obscuring 10970 10970, good at 1256, not // 10300 but // 7970; poor at 1316 13060, fair at 1258 with ute QRM, // 13850. Hardly any of these OOB FD frequencies ever have any ute QRM, pure luck, or does Sound of Hope work to avoid that? 13850, good at 1257, // 10970, but off at 1300* 14700, fair carrier with flutter at 1259, but JBA audio. No others up to 16 MHz by 1300. Firedrake April 20: none at all found 7-18 MHz between 1320 and 1335; very poor propagation today, but might have found some if I had tried before 1300. Also nothing at all on 13m past 1400. However, at 1359- 1400*, 15115 had fair signal from CNR1 jamming against VOA Chinese via Thailand (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. Hola Glenn: ayer por la noche (0500 UT) pude escuchar aquí en la Ciudad de México a "La Voz de Tu Conciencia" por encima de XEOI Radio Mil onda corta !!! Esto lo había escuchado hace unos años y ahora fué mas claro. Por supuesto que Martin Stendal y Rafael Rodríguez lo negaran, espero de repetirse esta situación, grabar y enviarla. Saludos, (Julián santiago D. de B., 1844 UT April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Julian, Well, you could hear this presumably only because a much greater menace, R. Habana Cuba, was missing from 6010 during this bi- hour 05-07 as sometimes happens. # Parece que pudiste escuchar a Conciencia solo porque en este caso la amenaza bien mayor, Radio Habana Cuba, se encontraba fuera durante estas dos horas, 05-07, lo que acontece de vez en cuando. Saludos, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, I do agree, but never before when RHC is out I have heard LVTC that clear in Mexico City, I even have the report of that day from two DXers here in Mexico City, unfortunately I could not record it. I usually hear a het back of XEOI (Julián Santiago, ibid.) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. 5954.2, April 15 at 0942, R. República surprisingly good in Spanish with only lite pulse jamming under, while heavy DentroCuban jamming fell upon R. Martí 5980, 6030 and 9805 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [and non] 5954.26, Radio República, Guápiles, 4/12 at 0912 OM and YL Spanish talks. Fair signal and frequency clear. Very nice ID at 0913 by OM, "Radio República! .... su sintonía a Radio República . . . onda media . . . 5 de la tarde . . . y la banda de 49 metros ..." Repeating and correcting as I mislabeled this log in last report as "Colombia" -- was evidently typing too fast! Thanks to Señor Henrik Klemetz, who noticed and was kind enough to email me! (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, Illinois, Drake R8B; JRC NRD545; Eton E1; Hallicrafters SX100; Knightkit Star Roamer; Dentron Super Tuner + Ameco PLF-2 + Palomar P- 408; Longwires (150' + 100') plus homebrew tunable small loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Onda media?? Sure wish you had caught the MW frequency. Maybe via WDHP, 1620, USVI? (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA. AUDIOCLIP: RADIO FIUME Radio Fiume is the Croatian radio in Italian language broadacast on 7410 kHz, Mon-Fri 1400-1415 UT via Voice of Croatia. The audioclip is available here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/10117675.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC Mailbag Program 18 April 2011 at 0150 UT on 6000 kHz, mentioned that as of 5 April 2011, and I quote: "mail to the United States has been restored." You may have already heard this, Glenn (Ed Insinger, NJ, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 17560, April 14 at 2019, RHC Arabic still colliding with VOA French via Bonaire, and at the moment way atop it here, far outside the target zone of both. 9620, April 15 at 0321, RHC with Fidel way over original occupant REE, making a heavy SAH. Both are to South America, and a collision likely to endure as isolated Arnie is obstinant once he has picked a bad frequency, and REE is not known for being willing to move to solve such problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Havana Cuba-RHC, 9660, 0346 GMT, Spanish, 333, April 16, YL with comments then some choir music followed by an OM with comments (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGST) Are you sure about that? Unknown frequency for RHC; However, Vatican via Madagascar is on 9660 toward us at 03-04 in English, Swahili, Somali, per HFCC. RHC normally on 9620 vs SPAIN (gh, DXLD) Re my previous report: ``17560, April 14 at 2019, RHC Arabic still colliding with VOA French via Bonaire, and at the moment way atop it here, far outside the target zone of both.`` --- my original log notes do show Arabic, but RHC should be Portuguese during this semihour, then Arabic from 2030. Not sure now whether it was my mistake or theirs. 6010, 6050, 6060, 6150, April 16 at 0547 RHC English playing some really wild avant-garde music including various percussive sounds and video-game firing noises; 0550 cut to `Ed Newman` promoting their `Real Audio` linx on website, as if it were something new and we needed that because of poor SW reception on the overkilled 49m band. He insists on calling this Real Audio even tho it`s Windows Media! Then 2 YLs mumble their names with final ``newscast`` starting with, what else, Posada Carriles not being prosecuted by the US as Cuba demands, or extradited to Venezuela. 13880, first noted on leapfrog mixing product, but much stronger on 13780 and 13680, April 16 at 1323 RHC seems live from rally on the Plaza mentioning also broadcast by R. Cadena Habana and R. Metropolitana, commemorating some event 50 years ago today. Big day in Habana, tough luck for RHC languages --- RHC has blown away its regular programming today April 16, for live coverage of the opening of the sixth Communist Party Congress (only five before now?). Raúl just started speaking at 2000+ on 11760, weaker 12020, 12040, frequencies which are normally off the air at this hour, and on 17560, Spanish instead of French before 20, instead of Portuguese after 20, and colliding as usual with VOA Bonaire in French until 2030. It`s a momentous day, he says, also 50th anniversary of the victory at Playa Girón. For the other side of the story, at 1959 I checked Radio Martí on 11930, audible above the jamming: but they were talking about exoplanets. How far away can you get from today`s Cuba? Tnx to a tip from Joe Buch, here`s CO2-caca on NBC Nightly News, a 3- minute video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/#42623970 Coro only makes a brief appearance toward the end, but, that`s him, about repelling the invaders a semicentury ago. Viz.: ``CO2KK on NBC TV Nightly News --- Arnaldo Corro [sic] was interviewed tonight on the NBC-TV Nightly News about his role in beating back the Bay of Pigs invasion 50 years ago today. Turns out he was on the beach defending the homeland. No wonder the State Department/CIA blocked his trip to speak at the Winter SWL Fest a few years ago (Joe Buch, April 16, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD)`` The 3-minute video is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/#42623970 Coro makes only a brief appearance toward the end, but, that`s him. [BTW, when this originally aired between 2230 and 2300 UT, there was no sign of `night` around here --- bright sunshine. For that matter, it wasn`t night in New York, either. It`s about time they called it ``NBC Afternoonly News`` (``Evening`` is already taken by CBS, an exclusive?) (gh, Enid)] 6010, April 17 at 0522, open carrier from RHC, vs Colombo-Méxican hets underneath. 6050 was OK with RHC English. Note to transmitter operators: both modulation and carrier are necessary to complete the mission. Put this reminder on a post-it on the unit. O, they probably don`t have post-its in ancient Cuba, a modern luxury. 15120, Sunday April 17 at 1335, RHC `En Contacto` DX program, an echo apart from 15230 but not from // 15360 with monthly report from Pedro Sedano, Spain, including the schedule of HCJB on 6050! Naturally, no mention that RHC is blocking it for at least 4 hours a night despite pleas to get off. Later he has a more intriguing item: From Mexico, Radio Insurgente is broadcasting Saturdays at 09-10 UT on 6000; see http://www.radioinsurgente.org website. [Continued at MEXICO] This Chiapan clandestine was in the news several years ago, but no one (?) ever reported really hearing it. Is it back, or is this extremely stale info? Anyhow it has quite a website, ``Radio Insurgente, la voz de los sin voz, voz del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, transmitiendo desde las montañas del sureste mexicano`` but `new` latest audio is dated 20 April 2009! The page ``Programas semanales de Onda Corta`` says: ``Estos programas de Radio Insurgente están dirigidos a la sociedad civil nacional e internacional. Se transmiten semanalmente, todos los sábados a las 15:00 horas (hora del centro de México GMT-6) en la frecuencia 6.0 MHz en la banda de 49 metros. Cada programa tiene una duración de aproximadamente una hora. Puedes escucharlos o bajarlos para su retransmisión. Para escucharlos haz clic en Escuchar. Para bajarlos haz clic en el botón derecho del ratón (con la opción "guardar como").`` So it says Saturdays 1500 local time = 2100 UT, not 0900, mis- converted! Except local time is now UT -5 = 2000 UT, in stark daylight when 6000 if really on the air is not going to penetrate very far even with decent power which this is unlikely to enjoy. Unless RHC lend them a transmitter, a theory we have always doubted. And the broadcasts listed on this page are from no later than 2008y. Back to RHC itself: being Sunday, 13750 fired up instead of 13680, and // 13780 with own programming at 1415; no signals on 15370 (which did have a suspicious open carrier at 1338), or 17750. Further check at 1550 found none of the `Aló, Presidente` frequencies on the air. [see VENEZUELA] 9805, April 15 at 0937 R. Martí over heavy jamming. At 0945, 5980 was over jamming and 6030 about equal to jamming, during item about béisbol. 7405 without RM at this time, still had jamming pulses. Extracted from latest HFCC, the full RM schedule via Greenville, daily except truce 03-09 UT Mondays: 22-13 6030 00-01 11775 plus 01-03 Sackville 00-03 7365 03-07 7405 07-12 5980 09-13 9805 12-14 7405 13-17 11845 13-20 13820 plus 20-22 Sackville 14-24 11930 17-24 9565 See also COSTA RICA [and non] 11775, DentroCuban Jamming Command moderate pulsing April 18 at 0533 marring Arabic music and talk from CRI via ALBANIA; Commies vs Commies! Jamming is left over from R. Martí which is on 11775 via Greenville, then Sackville, only at 0000-0300. 6030, April 18 at 1300-1303+ looking for Firedrake as usual during this hour but hear R. Martí still going past nominal 1300* with several promos about R. Martí including its news, but no news on the hour. No Cuban jamming audible, but some FE co-channel remnant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Havana Cuba-RHC, 13760, 0002 GMT, Spanish, 333, April 19, OM with comments (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess you mean 13670, their current frequency (gh, DXLD) 7390 and 7425 approx., pulsing spurs from the wall of noise jamming against Martí on 7405, April 19 at 0540. Yes, not exactly symmetrically displaced. 13820 and weaker 11930, pulse jamming including a tone, April 19 at 0531 against nothing, R. Martí using these frequencies only much earlier/later in the daytime. They were at the same rate, but just slightly out of sync. Meanwhile, tnx to such wastage of resources, food is still rationed in the people`s paradise. 17560, April 19 around 2000, RHC still colliding with VOA French via BONAIRE. According to Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, VOA will be moving to 17530, but not until April 22, both for the 1930-2030 via Bonaire and the previous unblocked French hour via São Tomé. 6010, 6050, 6060, 6150, UT Wed April 20 at 0540, Arnie Coro on DXers Unlimited telling the story of R. Swan, counter-revolutionary station of the 60s on MW 1160. Sounds familiar, as I think he has done this before; fell asleep before he finished. 15360, April 20 at 1358, RHC has CCI and fast SAH from TWR Swaziland IS, 1359 its ID in English, but at 1400 RHC is off leaving TWR in the clear opening quarter-hour of Urdu; RHC remaining on 15230, and 15120 was already off. At 1402, RHC comes back on 15360 inmidst frequency listing, and seems a bit stronger against TWR; antenna change? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. R. Prague regains a daily English relay via WRMI at 1400 on 9955, replacing France: see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Among other times ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 1640, 14/04/2011 0405-, R. Juventus Don Bosco, Sto Domingo, annunci, ID alle 0408 "Radio Juventus Don Bosco", programma religioso e canti in S, 23322. http://streema.com/radios/play/8189 Dirección: Radio Juventus Don Bosco, Apartado Postal 4848, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. V/S Padre Luis Rosario. Radiojuventusdonbosco @ yahoo.com Buona serata (Saverio de Cian, QTH: Sedico (Belluno), Italia, RX: SDR- 14, ANT: K9AY, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. EEUU DISPUESTO AYUDAR A RADIODIFUSORES DOMINICANA PARA IMPLEMENTAR RADIO DIGITAL [sic] Publicada el: 17 de Abril del 2011, 1:25:17 pm Las Vegas, USA.- La radio del futuro mostrará imágenes, similares a la televisión pero fijas como fotos, a diferencia de la actual en la que sólo se escucha la voz, según pudieron observar técnicos del Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (Indotel) que asisten a la Convention Center, que se celebró en esta ciudad y donde se exhiben los últimos adelantos de la radio y televisión digital a nivel mundial. La delegación dominicana sostuvo un importante encuentro con representantes de la firma HD Radio, de la tecnología IBOC In Band of Channel, con relación a las ventajas que ofrece esta tecnología y las facilidades que aportaría para su aplicación en la República Dominicana. John Schneeider, representante para Latinoamérica de HD Radio, dijo que están en la mejor disposición de asesorar a los radiodifusores dominicanos sobre las ventajas de la citada tecnología. . . http://lanaciondominicana.com/ver_noticia.php?id_noticia=27530&sesion_periodico=41 (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, April 18, DXLD) Don`t fall for it! (gh) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025.14, 2345-2355 09.04, R Amanecer Internacional, Santo Domingo, Spanish talk, much QRM, 31331 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** EAST TURKISTAN. 3990, 0040-0115 fade out, CHINA, 16.04 Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, Uighur programme, 25332 // 6120 and 7205, but not 4980 which was covered by a severe noise. Maybe testing DRM ??? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX-ing on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) CHINA, 4980, Xinjiang PBS, 0017 talk by W in presumed Uighur over music to 0020 ending with some trailing music. 0020 different live studio W briefly, then apparent canned ad by M over music, followed by long dialog between M and W over music to 0024. Live W returned at 0024-0027, instrumental music for a minute. W again then brief canned announcement by M. Russian style music bridge and live W to 0030 BoH. Fanfare with M and W in echo, then talk by live M, news maybe?? Pretty decent signal at tune/in relatively speaking, but fading of course and some slop QRM from 4985 Brazil. Wish I would have been on the frequency at the ToH. (14 April) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) 15245, April 17 at 0526 some nice guitar music causes me to pause, but it`s mixed with talk in German. Seems like a clash of two stations; 0527 the German changes to YL singing; 0529 Chinese mixed with German. Per HFCC this is only CRI`s German service, 05-07, 500 kW, 308 degrees from Wulumuchi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 4918.98, Radio Quito (tentative), 1142-1153, April 14. Monologue in Spanish; too weak to ID; I tuned in too late, as I think earlier they must have had better reception (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This one reactivates every few months for a day or two; just to burn the cobwebs out of the transmitter? (gh) ** EGYPT. 9315, April 15 at 0310, R. Cairo, English, good modulation on music, fair on talk, of course much better than neighboring R. Cairo in Arabic on 9305. 0322, YL ID as ``North American service of Radio Cairo beamed to the eastern coast``. Now it has modulation spikes from 9305 QRMing. As for 9305, at 0420 with Qur`an somewhat less distorted, 0430 Arabic talk more distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. NILE FM ANNOUNCES ITS “NEW ERA OF RADIO” --- Cairo’s popular English-language radio station Nile FM has announced a new line-up, “The Sound of Now”, which it says will allow Egyptian youth “a voice, a place to share their thoughts and feelings with no fear.” The new line-up will see the return of familiar voices such as Simon Ramsden and Tom Green. Simon Ramsden will be hosting a brand new show called “The Sunday Night Project”, featuring the latest music releases and music news. Tom Green will present the “Big Drive Home.” New programmes will also be aired, including “The Early Show” with Zach Van Lue and “Late Night Live” with Lina (Source: ahram.org.eg April 19th, 2011 - 11:23 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 Comment on “Nile FM announces its “new era of radio”” 1. #1 Juan Carlos Aragón on Apr 20th, 2011 at 17:00 This station is one of the fewest ones that takes Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, Hit Radio Edition . Rick Dees WT40, hit radio edition, is on Saturdays, at 11.00 CET, but it will be back at 10.00 CET when time will change in the 1st weekend of May. Last week show was full of those new jingles and promos. Apart from listening to the shows online 24/7 on rick.com Nile FM is one of the fewest stations on satellite (and on FM and online) in this part of the world (Mediterranean Region) that takes the show. It looks like european broadcasters disdain American radio shows (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa, 1438, April 14. Faintly heard Tony Alamo preaching; very weak (a bit early to be able to hear them well) (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, Radio Africa, 1433-1440, 15-04, male in English with religious comments. 24322. Also 0655-0720, 17-04, religious comments in English by male. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, April 18 at 1435, R. Africa poor with American low-key gospel huxter; sounds like Tony Alamo but not positive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTIENING DIGEST) 15190, R. Africa, 1428-1500, April 19. Unique opening in which Tony Alamo was clearly heard preaching/rambling; have never heard this so well this early; opening only lasted about 15 minutes or so; after 1500 mostly unusable (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, April 20 at 0529, R. Africa the only station on band, gospel huxter Franklin Amos (?) giving his address several times, necessary since signal was fading out periodically. Finally put together as: P O Box 60, New York City NY 10116, offering free booklet. We are also to include the ``call letters of this station`` --- but they don`t have any in EqG! At least not that we know of. Now what? 0530 without ID into another g.h., a YL. Most unusual propagation, being the OSOB, not a bit of R. Australia on 15160 or 15240, usually there if anything is; nor Nigeria 15120. Googling that phone leads to the Dawn Bible Students Association, http://www.dawnbible.com/f_e/f_e.htm with the same postal address for Frank & Ernest. If one wanted to pursue this, looks interesting: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/89139/2/Investigated-the-Dawn-Bible-Society-Russellites (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6110, 2000, Radio Fana, vgd in native language with spoken features, talkback, HOA music 25/3. Parallel 7210 fair due North Korea co-channel and CRI 7215 splatter. Closed at 2102 after anthem. 6110 also heard fading in 0345 26/3 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** EUROPE. 3280, 17/4 2148, Greek pirate station, 2 x H from 1640, music, poor. 3296, 17/4 2145, Italian Pirates QSO in LSB, good 4900, 17/4 2140, Italian pirates QSO in AM; Mario, Giuseppe & others, good (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, SW log made at the seaside in Bocca di Magra (La Spezia, Italy), on Sunday evening/night, RX: RFspace SDR-IQ – ANT: Wellbrook LFL 1010 loop, SW Blog: http://radiodxsw.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [and non]. 7375, April 15 at 1003 VG signal with news in Spanish about more corpses found in Durango, Mexican state ``en la frontera con Estados Unidos``! Durango is NOT a border state. I am not impressed with RFI, in this 1000-1030 relay, 250 kW, 305 degrees via GUIANA FRENCH. And like NHK on 6120, why such an early broadcast? RFI`s official CIRAF target area extends to New Mexico, where it`s only 4 am. See also USA: WRMI --- no longer relaying RFI at all 13695, April 16 at 0526, French much stronger than RA 13690. In many nights of bandscanning around this time, first time I have heard something here beside Australia, tho RFI supposedly scheduled since A- 11 began at 0500-0600, 500 kW, 155 degrees from Issoudun (and also at 04-05, 136 degrees) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11615, FRANCE, Radio France International, 0600 Apr 17. English news underway, by woman, focused on the Middle East and North Africa, 0613 “13 minutes past 8:00 am here in Paris”. Strong at first, //17800 weak but improving while 11615 declined to poor. Reports had stated that RFI had gone to Mon-Fri only for their English broadcasts, but this was UTC Sunday. HFCC, Aoki and EiBi show this broadcast as daily (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 antenna, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9805, FRANCE. Radio France Int’l, 0431 Apr 18. English, reports from correspondents in African cities including one on the Nigerian election. Fair, //11995 poor. (Sellers-BC) 17800, FRANCE. Radio France Int’l, 0600 Apr 18. English s/on and news headlines. Fair, // 11615 poor (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Conditions were very interesting again this morning. ISS France had strong echoes on 15300 165/190deg, 15315 170deg (Hausa 0700-0730) and 15605 170deg (English 0700). I wonder if their signal had been all the way around and back from the north, or if the echo was caused by some other phenomena. Veeeeeery strange are the ways of propagation! But it wouldn't be interesting if they weren't. 73 from (Noel Green, NW England, April 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, here in Northern Europe RFI to Africa with big echo in early morning is something that I remember hearing for many decades. 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) RFI English posts schedule on website --- RFI English updated their schedule webpage Friday and now have a shortwave schedule up: East Africa 0400-0500 9805 11995 0500-0600 11995 13680 0600-0700 15160 17800 West Africa 0600-0700 11615 0700-0800 15615 http://www.english.rfi.fr/node/15357/#shortwaveanchor (Mike Barraclough, UK, April 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6149.968 / 6149.992, Radio 61-50 testing. Radio 61-50 presumed testing again on 6150 kHz now at 0745 UT. Very weak here, so still low power as it seems (Harald Kuhl, Germany, DXplorer Apr 17 0745 UT via BC-DX April 20 via DXLD) Harald berichtet in DXplorer ueber R 61-50, ich nehme an, die Station an der Autobahn bei Ingolstadt Rohrbach? Um 0800 UT messe ich 6149.968 kHz approx (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Apr 17 0802 UT, ibid.) Radio 61-50 testing. Just received confirmation that power is indeed 5 Watt at the time but from around 0845 UT today they will change to 500 Watts. They they are very interested in reception reports. Radio 61-50 on 6150 kHz at 0910 UT, VERY strong signal now here in Goettingen, obviously high power of 500 Watt (Harald Kuhl, DXplorer Apr 17 0808 / 0910 UT, ibid.) Radio 6150. Guten Morgen, heute laeuft unser erster Test mit mittlerer Leistung. Start ca. 1100 Uhr MESZ/CEST / 0900 UTC. QRG: 6150 kHz. Empfangsberichte an sind sehr willkommen, und werden mit einer QSL-Karte bestaetigt (wir bitten aber noch um ein wenig Geduld). Audio-Files sind sehr hilfreich; wenn moeglich, bitte mitsenden. Wir bitten insbesondere um: a) Beurteilung der Modulation; Qualitaet / Klang und Lautstaerke. b) exakte Sendefrequenz (falls eine Moeglichkeit zu genauen Messung besteht). c) Vergleich mit unseren Low-Power-Tests (falls diese seinerzeit gehoert wurden). Wir wuerden uns freuen, wenn unsere Hoerer evtl. auch andere Hobbyfreunde informieren koennten, den Empfang zu versuchen und Berichte zu schicken! Danke! (via Harald Kuhl-D, DXplorer Apr 17, ibid.) Heard here with moderate strength at 0915z. ID in German and English asking for reports and also for a short recording of the reception (Thomas Nilsson, Engelholm, Sweden, DXplorer Apr 17, ibid.) Um 0920 UT etwas hoeher auf 6149.992 kHz approx. S=6-7 on remote Perseus in Austria (Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Apr 17 0920 UT, ibid.) (their sign-off time on 6150 kHz was at 0931 UT, Mauno Ritola-FIN, Dxplorer, ibid.) Now they are working on their PA and further tests for today are unlikely, as they just have told me (Harald Kuhl-D, DXplorer Apr 17 1012 UT, ibid.) ** GHANA [non]. AUSTRIA, 11955, AWR, 2106 W talking with heavy African accent in English over soft instrumental religious music. "AWR Ghana" ID by W at 2108, then choral song. "Family Affairs" programm. 2117 address AWR Ghana, Valley View University, P. O. Box AF595, Adenta- Accra, Ghana, and e-mail awr @ gvu.edu.gh or phone 233-208704532. Music then. Spiritual talk and more music. 2127 M with ID and contact info again. Trumpet call and music, then signal off at 2129:00. Good signal and clear 100% copy. (16 April). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** GREECE. Re 11-15: >> Metropolitan Opera live broadcast on SW! (...) two YLs in English discussing Handel and Rossini, one of whom is Renée Fleming. Sounds like a Met intermission feature << --- And from this description the whole radio thing appears to be just the audio of a video production, available for screening in cinemas exclusively, with ticket prices of 21.50 Euro in this example: http://www.rundkino.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=100 The "Guardian" once praised this as an approach to introduce new audiences to opera. But anecdotal evidence here in Germany is that people who attend these cinema screenings are just the usual opera- goers and only them, to an extend hardly seen in any opera house. And what about http://www.operainfo.org/stationfinder/International_Partners_0910.pdf which lists most of the public broadcasters in Germany and in one case links to a radio station closed down five years ago (hr-klassik)? Don't you believe that they regularly broadcast the video production audio, as ERT does. By the way: http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2009/09/only-in-new-york-ie-to-me-eurotrash-is-zeffirelli-the-opera-chic-editorial.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Met also does video for theatrical showing now, charging lots more than a movie, sometimes live in our evenings, also with replays later, but what I heard is their regular sesqui-decades old Saturday afternoon *live radio broadcast* as I made clear by the // to KCSC-FM. It may or may not (most likely not) have been also a video produxion (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. 9420, April 15 at 0312, good with Greek music and announcements; can`t hear any IRIB underneath, which started the season colliding all the way from 1630 to 0530; is it still there? Probably. John Babbis in Maryland is still reporting co-channel QRM around 2300-0200+ but no worse than I=4 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420, April 15, noted IRIB Arabic at 1930 UT news on S=9+30dB level in central Europe. Nortwesterly at England remote rxs Greece is on top. Listen to recording of 1934 UT 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 15630, April 16 at 1759, rock music from VOG, Greek announcement, poor signal. No Metropolitan Opera live this Saturday! It was too good to be true, on the SW air last Saturday only due to a strike disrupting normal programming. 15630, April 17 at 0534, VOG with usual Sunday-morning Greek Orthodox off-key singing; at 0532 was also hearing 15595, Vatican Radio with similar but more tuneful singing in mass, then speaking Latin (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11645, MYSTERY. BBC at 0550 Apr 17. “The World Today” and ID. I can’t find BBC listed here, but Greece is listed with a Sunday-only broadcast in English 0530-0600. I checked at 0603 and the signal was gone. Will have to check again. Good (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 antenna, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Harold, Greece`s English broadcasts on the Radio Filia service are really (most or all?) BBCWS relays. That`s not obvious from their schedule until you listen in. R. Filia has really been disrupted by the strikes and seasonal changes; listed where? Really Sunday only now? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thanks Glenn. I wasn't aware of their BBCWS relaying, but I wondered if it might have been the case. EiBi shows the following for 11645: English: 0500-0600 Mon-Fri, 0515-0530 Sat, 0530-0600 Sun Albanian: 0500-0515 Sat, 0500-0530 Sun French: 0530-0545 Sat Spanish: 0545-0600 Sat (Harold Sellers, Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening, available at http://www.odxa.on.ca ibid.) Voice of Greece. I have been looking today 17 April for the Sunday music programme "Greek in Style". Not heard at 0800, 0900 or 1100, so tuned-in early to check the 1300 time slot. Was just in time at 1255 to hear the familiar signature tune and Angelica Timms introducing the programme. 9420 and 15630 (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you sure she was introducing rather than outroducing at 1255, i.e. did it start around 1200? Or continue past 1300 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Absolutely 100% sure! The usual signature tune, followed by Angelica Timms welcoming us to Greek in Style. The programme then continued beyond 1300 and still going when I tuned-out at around 1310. (Alan Roe, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Caught the end of it (good on 15630, 9420 unheard); it ended around 1352. Maybe new time? 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY, ibid.) The English Radio Filia programme was a mix of World Service relays, local music and local news items and features read and perhaps prepared by Angelika Timms. Only BBC World Service relays heard recently. Angelika Timms also not heard on Greek In Style except on the canned introduction which makes me wonder if she is currently working at the station (Mike Barraclough, April 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11645, Monday April 18 at 0535 talk may be in Greek, but not // 9420; or is it something Slavic? Presumably the R. Filia service relay, which is supposedly mostly in English during this hour relaying BBCWS, but with segments in Albanian, French, Spanish on weekends, per EiBi via Harold Sellers. This scheduling is extremely flexible (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) First, a corrected logging, thanks to advice from Glenn Hauser. 11645 GREECE. Radio Filia relaying BBC at 0550 Apr 17. With “The World Today” and ID (listed as English, BBC relays, Sundays 0530-0600, Mon- Fri 0500-0600, 0515-0530 Sat). Good. (Sellers-BC) 11645, Radio Filia, 0455 Apr 18. Carrier on, 0456 cut into talk in Greek, listened right through till 0554 sudden sign-off, all in Greek - no English and no BBC relay today, mostly news and talks in Greek with folk music every 10 or minutes, several “Radio Filia” IDs and at s/on one “Foní tis Athínas” ID. Very good (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 antenna, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'd noticed last week that Radio Filia was in I believe Albanian 0500- 0600 instead of BBC WS English relay, observed closing a few minutes before 0600. Aoki has them 0455-0555 Albanian on 11645 with English 0600-0700 on 17705, this morning 17705 carrying same Greek programming as 9420 and 15630 (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Hello To All, We have finally moved to our new location at Bristol's Hope, Newfoundland which is located about 70 miles by highway Northwest from St. John's. The home features a wrap around deck which overlooks the ocean , as well a large shed up the hill from the house. The isolated location has already proven to be an excellent DX spot, as the first few evenings here have provided the following station loggings with both nights yielding a multitude of Trans- Atlantic signals. At least 8 new stations were logged in the first two evenings of Dxing amongst all the ongoing unpacking. [excerpt from long log:] 720-GREENLAND-KNR Simuitaq 2:43UT Inuit talk by woman Receivers: SRF-M37V & SRF-39FP barefoot. We have also put together by request from some members of the group some photos of our DX location and home at the following link below http://cangoose.freehostia.com/bristolphotos.htm A recorded video of our location is now also available on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVukxbM9ZiE Good DX to All (Allen Willie & Dianne Froude, Bristol's Hope, Newfoundland, 47.75?N 53.00?W, http://nldxers.110mb.com April 6, IRCA via DXLD) Allen: Greenland? I thought they were off the air. That's good news if they're still on the air! Got any room for antenna stretching around your place? A beverage would be an impressive addition to your set up. Nice that you don't have to climb a mountain to DX now! (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, R. Verdad, 1219, April 14. EZL music; ID with address in English; syndicated Christian program in English (“Thru the Bible” with Dr. J. Vernon McGee); poor-fair (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4055.0, April 15 at 1033, R. Verdad already on the air with hymn, 1035 sermon in Spanish with musical background. 1042 daily Bible reading mentioning ``la buena ceniza``(?). Somewhat distorted and overmodulated, good signal for 700 watts at S9+18. Normal sign on is circa 1130, nominally 1100. At first I wondered if Guatemala had gone on DST as sometimes happens, but no; then I suspect it`s something to do with Good Friday, maybe a pre-sunrise service? Usual late-Sunday sign-on may also be earlied for Easter. I also asked Dr Madrid about it and her replies: ``It is a SURPRISE to me too. I suppose Mary Zacarías got confused with her time. Our schedules are: Monday through Saturday: 1100 to 0605 UT Sunday: 1250 to 0400 UT Thank you for listening. Dr. Édgar Madrid, Radio Truth, Chiquimula, Guatemala`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 4899.98, Radio Familia, 2105, French, presumed with talk by a man, then into nice Cora music. Best in USB with two-way Chinese conversation in LSB on 4899. 1 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD- 535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. 3289.98, VOG, 0801, April 12. Usual format of choral National Anthem in English; full ID for the start of their local programs. Later from 0924 to 0942 “Early Bird Show” with many “Happy Birthday” wishes; very annoying, as the announcer continually was talking over loud background music; songs (Michael Jackson “Rock With You”, Hindi pop, etc.); time checks every few minutes; mostly fair (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONG KONG. CHINA/HONG KONG. Hi, I found this blog: http://vr2vzr.blogspot.com/ full of photos of HF utility antennas in Asia (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK - HB9EMK, shortwavesites yg Apr 13 via BC-DX April 20 via DXLD) Also contains images of the: Cape D'Aguilar Radio Station (Hong Kong) where the Easter Yacht Races were broadcast from on SW AND from China the Xining SWBC site in Qinghai region (Ian Baxter, Australia, ibid.) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1255-1315, April 19. DJ in English with the Tuesday program “Heart to Heart” playing EZL love songs (“If Ever You're In My Arms Again”, etc.), PSA for having regular eye exams; TC (“6:45”); 1315 into Hindi; reception well above the norm till 1345 tune out (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR DRM 9950 --- From drmrx.org forum ... 14th April 2011 Tonight I noticed an "interesting" phenomenon listening to the (weak tonight) 9950 kHz DRM signal with 20.96 kbps. Around 2045 UT I noticed a DRM channel on 9.930 MHz and AIR in AM on an unlisted (A11) channel 9.940 MHz. It seems like the TX on 9.940 MHz causes a spurious signal on 9.930 MHz which can be seen with Dream in "flip input spectrum" mode. Could this be the reason for the weak 9950 kHz as well? If I'm not mistaken I think I can hear the AM 10 kHz up superimposed on the 9950 kHz too. Now, at 2055 UTC the SNR on 9950 is around a meager 9 dB. The same SNR was recorded on the flip input spectrum 20 kHz below 9950 kHz. A most puzzling configuration of transmissions. Btw, the reception this evening was very bad with SF:118 A:14 K:1 and SSN:153. But, the AM on 9.940 MHz was booming in. AIR: Comments please???? Regards, Terje HED362 http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1641&page=42 (via Alokesh Gupta, April 16, dx_india yg via DXLD) Bilberstein, Switzerland. See thread for some follow-ups (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. 11670, All India Radio Gen. Overseas Service. Bangaluru // 11935. 2011/04/10 sun 1813-1816, Almost inaudible, but clearly // 11935. Very poor and noisy. Local Sunset 1558. 11935, All India Radio Gen. Overseas Service. Mumbai // 11670. 2011/04/10 sun 1801-1834, News. ID at 1805 "All India Radio". Classical vocal music at 1815. Fair. Local Sunset 1558 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17715, April 15 at 0410 S Asian popsong, poor with flutter; 0414 announcement, hum, 0415 AIR ID, and news. Delhi (Khampur) site, 250 kW, 245 degrees, is scheduled to be going from Hindi to Gujarati at 0415. 15770, April 18 at 1242, WYFR normally clear in Spanish, has some CCI, which must be AIR Telugu service until 1245, 250 kW, 132 degrees from Aligarh site, per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [non]. 11685, TWR India, good in listed Urdu 1505 4/16, combination language/morality lesson with man talking in English about various forms of stealing, with each sentence repeated in Urdu. Then had Bible reading in Urdu with intro in English. Closing announcement heard at 1529* recheck, mentioning PO Box in Lahore, plus phone # & email address. Listed as relay via Samara in Aoki 11930, South Asian music and talk behind Radio Martí, 1516 4/16. Aoki list has TWR India in Hindi via Tashkent here at this time (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3344.97, RRI Ternate, 1301-1356, April 14. 1300 in Bahasa Indonesia giving phone numbers to call in to the show; 1301 another Thursday with the “Bali International English Club” program in English; a more serious format this week; presented a very critical critique of some of the “International” schools that do not meet the “International Standard”; intense attack on a Jakarta “International” school; it is only about “money, money, money” for them; on air calls (as usual the majority of the attempted calls did not connect); discussion about teaching English as a second language; 1356-1400 songs in English till back into Bahasa Indonesia. 7289.88, RRI Nabire, 0759*, April 10. In Bahasa Indonesia; ID and off; did not get to start SCI. April 12 at 0759 with Rayuan Pulau Kelapa (Solace on Coconut Island, a.k.a. song of Coconut Island - SCI); pips and off (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7289.862, RRI Nabire, 0711, brief comments by a woman, then into local music. Fading up nicely and all alone. 16 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT- 950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise- reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 9526-, April 19 at 1350, VOI is only fair with heavy flutter, contrary to usual loud, clear and steady signal, during Tuesday ``Exotic Indonesia`` co-produxion with RRI Banjarmasin. After some music, noting only one IAD, 1354 conversation between Banj guy and Jak gal. 1357 blocked by much stronger 9525.0 het from CRI Russian musical prélude aimed USward, 37 degrees from SZG site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Hi Everyone, Any help much appreciated. Recorded 9680 kHz this pm 1728, up to 1729 UT when CRI came on 9685. I can see that Thailand and RRI are listed but not at this time. It is probably one or the other but I was hoping for some help as cannot tell the language http://www.box.net/shared/vfdauiy7oe Thanks (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, April 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sounds to me like Indonesian. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) RRI-Jakarta was overnight service, too yesterday (Apr. 16). cf. http://rri.jpn.org/ (S. Hasegawa, Japan, ibid.) Hi Mark, Sei-ichi is correct. You certainly did hear RRI Jakarta broadcasting all night. The start of your recording is fairly typical music for wayang kulit (a shadow puppet play, which is an ancient form of storytelling). It is very popular in Indonesian and is occasionally noted also via the RRI regional stations, sometimes also running all night (long past their normal sign off times). For any unusual activity from Indonesia, I always check with Atsunori Ishida at http://rri.jpn.org/ who certainly is the master monitor of Indonesia, with his daily observations (Ron Howard, San Francisco, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET [and non]. An item from Scott Fybush regarding the NAB convention Some may remember Scott from waaay back -- he was part of the independently-produced hobby radio program "Spectrum" back in the late 1980s / early 1990s if I have my dates right. This is from his weekly "Northeast Radio Watch" column, and includes his observations about the recently-concluded NAB conference / exposition in Las Vegas: "So what were radio broadcasters talking about? There's the new FCC policy requiring licensees to certify, come renewal time, that they and their advertisers aren't discriminating against minority or Hispanic audiences when they buy and sell time. (Can such a policy ever really be enforced? Most of the broadcasters we heard from doubt it, citing the impossibility of "knowing the minds" of their advertisers and agencies.) There's the continuing move of talk and sports formats from AM to FM - and significant concern among some broadcasters that even analog FM is on the road to obsolescence. But despite a big display from HD Radio developer Ibiquity, and a big push from NAB leadership to make FM radio reception (preferably with HD capability) a standard feature on wireless handsets, the future probably lies elsewhere, as broadcasters pursue the real-world audience of millions of existing broadband users with streaming capability." We grouse about international broadcasters leaving shortwave...but even local broadcasters here in North America are finding good ol' analog FM to be a potentially dying bread... http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Internetradio mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. The ROKU BOX, known primarily for it streaming of Netflix from the web to your TV has now started offering streaming of radio stations from all around the world on their box. It is a service called TUNE-IN radio. I was listening to stations from Chicago and Radio Netherlands on it last night. Even offers Police/Fire and air traffic control towers form lots of cities (George Thurman, (Houston, TX), April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. New on WRN: Algeria, Cairo, and Damascus I was browsing the World Radio Network website today and noted that English language programming from Radio Algeria International, Radio Cairo (all 90 minutes), and Radio Damascus is now available. However it appears none are available in the "live" WRN North America web stream that WRMI and other local FM outlets may offer; the programming is available only in other WRN live audio streams and on-demand. Given the current regional turmoil, these might be worth a listen. Admittedly all three are state-run, but nonetheless one might hear details via this route that would otherwise not be available. http://wrn.org/listeners (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, internetradio via DXLD) ?? Not new. These were reported months ago in DXLD, but I`m not going to take time to hunt up the references. Looks like I wasted my time in the first place (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re 15-11: Gagarin. Concerning the described National Geographic insertion see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexi_disc The ones put time and again in East German magazines had always been made by Melodiya in the USSR, apparently the only COMECON company that could produce them. The audio quality of such a Schallfolie, as they have been called in German, was clearly inferior to standard vinyl records. Vladimir Komarov: In our small town a school had been named after him. I seem to recall that under other circumstances the fatal Soyuz 1 flight would have been manned with Valeri Bykovski who in 1978 flew with Sigmund Jähn, now recognized by everybody as the first German in space. By the way, some time ago I read with big surprise how some details about the Soyuz/Salyut flights have in "the West" been gathered from intercepted radio communications, details Jähn had already given away in his book about his spaceflight. This concerns in particular what in a graph had been shown as "internationally agreed backup landing sites". Sometimes the alleged secrets were already in the public domain, or rather known to "western" governments, which not necessarily was the same it seems (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 9420, IRIB, 0102-0130, 30 Mar, Arabic. ID and station info heard at 0102. More comments and to music at 0105. Excellent. Checked several sources and all say Zahedan, Iran. Very slight fades but excellent copy (Bob Montgomery, PA, NASWA Flashsheeet via DXLD) NO QRM from Greece? Normally dominant here (gh, DXLD) 11660, 0327, VOIRI with listed ‘Al Quds TV’ prorgam, vgd in Arabic- type language 31/3 // 11760 mixed. At 0330 chimes, ident & theme music for newscast (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) 15530, April 17 at 0531 something in Spanish, poor with flutter, then into Qur`an, à la VRII, and so it is, the 0530-0630 Spanish to Europe, 500 kW, 289 degrees from Kamalabad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And VOROI/IRIB in Japanese: 1330-1427 on 13630, not 13645 and // 15555. 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I already outpointed, stayed on 13630 (gh, DXLD) Voice of Justice, Iran schedule change --- By chance heard Voice of Justice, Iran, in English this morning (April 18) on 9605 kHz at 0420 tune-in to 0428 UT sign-off. At sign-off announced schedule 0330-0430 UT on 9605 and 11920 also on 99.5 FM (8 am local time) in Tehran (was not able to confirm 11920 here). This is a change from their recent 0130-0227 UT A11 schedule. Checking the IRIB website, it reveals the Voice of Justice schedule changed on April 16th: "Time and frequency change for Voice of Justice For your kind attention, there is a slight change in our broadcast schedules. From Saturday, April 16 onwards, we would be broadcasting Voice of Justice for the US and North America [sic] at 03:30 to 04:30 UTC (08:00 to 09:00 local time) on the following frequencies: 31m, 9605 KHz 25m, 11920 KHz And FM, 99.5 MHz for Tehran" (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, April 18, Sony 7600GR / telescopic, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21650, Voice of the Islamic Republic. Sirjan. 2011/04/10 sun 0835- 0928* Swahili. Mentioned quite a lot about "Washington". ID: "Iran" at 0854, "Tehran" at 0904. Web address "IRIB.IR" at 0926, also postal address. Sign off a few secs short of 0928*. Very good at start: s5, slight QRN, slight fading. Deteriorated with fading after 0900. Local Sunrise 0422 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. 5840, 2006, SOUTH AFRICA, RTÉ via Meyerton, poor- fair 31/3 in clear with PSAs, commercials, ident for “RTE Radio 1” & Irish news. Scheduled 1930-2030 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ISRAEL [non]. 9955, Israel Radio relay via WRN via WRMI is gone, April 15 at 0511, instead a gospel huxter in Spanish, and with moderate jamming, the wall of noise about equal to the pulsing. Had been M-F at 0500-0515, (or 0600-0615 before DST). WRMI has just put up a new program schedule dated April 15 which shows this as `Buscando Verdad` plus other 15-minute programs Mon-Thu. See USA (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15850, 0506, Galei Zahal in Hebrew with news at fair level 2/3 // 6977 also fair. Also noted very good 0449 16/3. Time pips and news on the hour (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ITALY. Ponti radio o radio parrocchiali? Ho trovato a Milano due frequenze nelle VHF basse, intorno ai 40 MHz, che ritrasmettono Radio Marconi (quindi in // con 94.8 MHZ) 39315.5, Radio Marconi FMN //94.8 FM 40685, Radio Marconi FMN //94.8 FM (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, 1633 UT 15 April, playdx yg via DXLD) Mode? Does FMN mean narrow band FM? Sure not spurious? (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. 6055, April 15 at 1028 as I was checking out the Japanese on 6060 [ARGENTINA], R. Nikkei was partly in English, outro as having been from the Society for Testing English Proficiency, Inc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 9695, April 16 at 1250 song about Fukushima, apparently by an amateur singer, then Thai announcement, from R. Japan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. 3974.97, Azad Kashmir Radio (presumed), 1352-1403 + 1412, April 19. I often check for the return of RRI Pontianak (3976.06v), but usually only find a Korean station with extremely distorted audio, wildly drifting around here, but today for the first time heard a station that sounded as if it was from the subcontinent. In vernacular with indigenous music and song; poor and was fading out. Per the Alan Davies website this is "Azad Kashmir Radio Trarkhal/Tararkheil" via Islamabad. Has been many years since I last heard them. Can still remember the thrill in 1981 of receiving a registered letter from Muzaffarabad, with my QSL on the stationary of Azad Kashmir Radio and signed by the Engineering Manager, M. Sajjad Ali Siddiqui, for my reception on 6010. Certainly one of my most prized QSLs! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KIRIBATI. 1440, Radio Kiribati, Tarawa on new frequency, talk in Gilbertese about Taiwan, island rhythms 0712 4/4, thru Moana AM and Goldrush. First noted 29/3 following tip from ex-Pacific Islands broadcaster Martin Hadlow who was able to confirm the language I heard as Gilbertese. Difficult catch (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. KOREA D.P.R. In the Voice of Korea "site appeared http://www.vok.rep.kp/CBC/russian.php (on a tip dxld) (Aleksandr Diadischev / "open_dx" via RusDX via DXLD) Also linx to English page; I wonder what this `CBC` stands for in the URL?? (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5965, Shiokaze, 2007 April 16 with talks in Japanese. S9 with low modulation QRMed by TRT 5960 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 6020, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, 1406, April 19. In Japanese; fair, but as usual earlier at 1340 was heavy QRM from RA and assume CNR8. So they are not just solely in Korean, but what is their English schedule now? (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6230, un-named clandestine (per Sei-ichi Hasegawa, no station name is announced), 1213, April 17. Monologue in Korean; strong. Has been observed in the past *1200-1240* (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9650, KBSWR via CANADA, April 16 at 1253-1256 with ``listening tips`` from Kevin O`Donovan, Farmington NM, including: R. Bulgaria tests coming up; Ozyradio 5050, barely heard in W NAm around 1000 --- I wonder where he read about those? He never credits his sources. AFAIK, Ron Howard, DXLD, is the only one who has heard it over here so far. Also apps for DW and a repeater-finder; NBA and NHL playoffs on XM/Sirius. A few weeks ago I didn`t hear Kevin on this Saturday slot, but he`s still there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, April 18 at 1335, V. of Mesopotamia via UKRAINE, fair with great music, but dumped off the air between 1347.5 and 1348.4; weakening after 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. LAO: Ban Chommany Neuk --- Best imagery yet of: Lao National Radio 6130 & Radio Laos 7145kHz SW TX antennas on GE. Both SW antennas now clearly seen in grounds; well, the masts that support the antennas at least :-) 18 00 33N 102 37 52E (Ian Baxter, April 19, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Lao National Radio - Photos http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5896877 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6011917 http://www.flickr.com/photos/vikkies/1346075929/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/vikkies/1346103684/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierrea/311853562/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierrea/311853264/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierrea/311854223/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierrea/311853988/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierrea/311854520/in/photostream/ Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, ibid.) ** LESOTHO. 639, R Lesotho. Maseru, NOT // 891. 2011/04/15 fri 1750- 1804, SeSotho. OM talking, monologue. Afro music from 1800. Strange - although not // 639, the music being played on 639 was faintly, but unmistakably, audible in the background, at least whilst the OM was talking. Good. Local Sunset 1553. 891, R Lesotho. Maseru NOT // 639. 2011/04/15 fri 1746-1804 English. Pop music. ID at 1751 "99.8" (i.e. Maseru.) To YL talking about the music she was playing. Good. Slight lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1553 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. Voice of Africa heard 15 April at 1804 tune-in signing-on on 11805 (not 11800 as previously reported) in presumed Hausa with drum music and frequent mentions of "Africa", "Voice of Africa" and "Hausa" (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And tentative Arabic home service relay on 8500 kHz at 1840 UT, but weak signal though. 73 wb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ivo Ivanov" Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2011 Subject: Re: Fw: LIBYA: Voice of Africa Yes, LJBC VOA in Hausa 1800-2000 today April 16 on new 11805, strong co-channel R. Liberty in Russian till 1900, ex 11800 kHz. 73! (Ivo Ivanov, via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sabrata in Hausa observed on 11805.004 kHz [in background R Liberty Biblis], and in Arabic on 8500.007 kHz, at 1830 UT April 17. 73 wb (Büschel, ibid.) 11805: Sabrata at 1850 UT well ahead of RL Biblis Russian co-channel. And Arabic on weak 8500 kHz too, wb. And Apr 17 Sabrata in Hausa observed on 11805.004 kHz [in background R Liberty Biblis til 1900 UT], and in Arabic on 8500.007 kHz, at 1830 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, April 16/17, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Apr 20 via DXLD) 17725, April 18 at 1402, V. of Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah, poor in English, mentioning, what else? 9.9.99; and after some hilife at 1413 again 9.9.99, about the African Union. BORING. Was also audible during previous sesquihour in Swahili; lately had been JBA during English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non?]. 10405, 27.3 1530 Commando Solo eller vad det nu var hördes riktigt bra, men bara i USB-mode. Arabiska och översättning till engelska med budskap till de libyska arméofficerarna: ”Stop fighting! Leave your arms and no harm will come to you! Return to your home and family!” etc. BEFF 10405, 27.3 1530, Commando Solo or whatever it was, quite good but only in USB-mode. Arabic messages translated to English for the Libyan army officers: "Stop fighting! Leave your arms and no harm will come to you! Return to your home and family!" etc. (Björn Fransson, Visby, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Commando Solo active again on shortwave RNW’s Ehard Goddijn reports: “Right now 0809 UT 14/4/2011 Commando Solo on 10405 kHz USB here in Almere. Announces also an FM frequency 100.6 MHz in Arabic and English. The transmission stopped at 0812 but resumed at 0830.” Update 1000 UT: “It seems that the Commando Solo tx is on air for 12 minutes on the top of the hour and half past the hour only. Bubble jamming on 10405 kHz started at 0940 and is continuously on the air.” Related story: * Commando Solo now in use on 6877 kHz to Libya Andy Sennitt adds: I have seen press reports that the airborne transmission platform has been regularly broadcasting on FM above Libya. The shortwave transmissions seem to be more limited and spasmodic (April 14th, 2011 - 9:19 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) Ciao, After some time I turned on again my old mod Kenwood R-5000. It was projected for Ham and Utility more then for BC listening. It's mod: 4 AM kHz by Inrad, KIWA audio mods, kept out attenuation n LW and MW. AOR 7030 and Drake R8 are better for BC. 10405, 20/4 1107, Commando Solo, Mediterranean Sea, Lybian war. Message to Lybian Army in Arabic and English: stop fighting and return to you family. USB, good signal, at 1112 strong jamming. RX: Kenwood R5000 (mod); ANT: T2FD; QTH: Milan city (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA FREE. VOICE OF FREE LIBYA NOW HAS A WEBSITE IN ENGLISH The Benghazi-based Voice of Free Libya now has an English-language website at voicefreelibya.blogspot.com. The website links to the live streams of the radio station and Libya Alhurra TV. It also contains summaries and quotes from some of the programmes in Arabic. On Friday 15 April, a presenter called for action to end pro-Gaddafi broadcasts. “The TV and radio stations of the tyrant are still spitting venom, inciting hatred and sowing seeds of sedition. They twist facts to uphold Al-Gaddafi’s regime. We urge the international community and its organizations to help us strip Al-Gaddafi of the media weapon by suspending TV licences and shutting down his radio stations through cancelling subscriptions to and contracts with the satellites used by these channels.” (Source: Voice of Free Libya website) April 19th, 2011 - 13:28 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) 1125 MW, 1940-1950 12.04, R Free Libya, El Beida, Arabic engaged talk about Libya, Arab song 33443. Also heard at 2250 AP-DNK 1449 MW, 2225-2230 05.04, R Free Libya (presumed), Misrata, Arabic talk, ID: "Radio Libya, Misrata" 33433 QRM UK (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR [and non]. 5010 USB + carrier, Malagasy, 1726 April 16, co QRMing with AIR & a carrier on +1.46 kHz. That time with songs. 32432 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5010, 17/4 1910-1914*, Radio Madagascar, long talks, usual carrier modulated only in the upper side. Abrupt sign off at 1914, Fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, SW log made at the seaside in Bocca di Magra (La Spezia, Italy), on Sunday evening/night, RX: RFspace SDR-IQ – ANT: Wellbrook LFL 1010 loop, SW Blog: http://radiodxsw.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR [and non]. While 19m bore only Equatorial Guinea [q.v.], at the same time 22m had only three signals, two of which were via Talata, April 20 at 0532: 13765, Vatican in Portuguese, 300 degrees, and 13840, NHK in French, 295 degrees --- plus 13775, V. of Russia, 61 degrees from Pet/Kam. And no Australia on 13630, 13690 which are usually there if anything is (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Three Hörby transmitters will be moved here: See SWEDEN. That should lay to rest rumors of Mad being closed down soon (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Last night: 7295, RTM Kajang, TraxxFM 1730 UT 14/4/11 very good signal, OM EE news then into usual pop/dance music http://www.box.net/shared/m6nyscre8t (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, Voice of Malaysia, 1141, April 12. In Chinese; several IDs; 1200 pips (1+1); into Bahasa Indonesia which is used as filler till 1203*; recently with good signal (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15295, V. of Malaysia, 1011 nice Arabic-like music, 1014-1015 W in Bahasa Malay. More music of local Asian Pop flavor. W again 1019, canned announcements, W again to 1024 with mention of Malaysia and back to music. 1028 more MOR pleasant style music. Apparent music by M after 1030. 1035 nice ID and jingle, then music. (16 April). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 0657, presumed the one, with balafon music. News or similar at 0700. Running very low modulation. 16 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. The good old days have got up and gone. The old XEROK now runs 30 kW day and 50 kW night if everything is working right. The days of the 150 kW Harris transmitter are just a memory (Jerry Kiefer, Roswell, NM, April 4, IRCA via DXLD) No wonder I never hear XEROK. For some reason I never realized XEROK was not operating with the same power. I guess I never checked. The same was true with XERF 1570 for years, running about 18 kW if lucky until a few years ago when they boosted to 100 kW. Now they are a pest on 1570 that used to be a great DX frequency off the beverage, after BC & AB moved to FM. I got FL, IL, etc. Now I get XERF, CKMW, and sometimes SD. That is about it. A DX test would work well as morse code would cut through XERF easy enough. But XERF is just strong enough to mess up the frequency here and I cannot even get them to QSL! I have tried for years and years. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, KGED QSL Manager, ibid.) I still get XEROK and XERF on a consistent basis, but the station I'm struggling to hear nowadays -- one that use to rule 540 at night - is XEWA!? Wonder what in the world happened, if their ground system is deteriorating, or if they`are simply running less wattage now than in the old days. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, NE, Sony ICF-2010 + Quantum Loop, ibid.) They show up currently at 150 kilowatts, non-directional. Regards, (Mark Durenberger, ibid.) So XEWA should be blasting my doors off here. Instead, when I null out CBK, all I get is Fort Dodge. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, NE, ibid.) ** MEXICO. 15120, Cuba, Sunday April 17 at 1335, RHC `En Contacto` DX program, monthly report by José Bueno in Spain has an intriguing item: He says, from Mexico, Radio Insurgente is broadcasting Saturdays at 09-10 UT on 6000! See http://www.radioinsurgente.org website. This Chiapan clandestine was in the news several years ago, but no one (?) ever reported really hearing it. Is it back, or is this extremely stale info? Anyhow it has quite a website, ``Radio Insurgente, la voz de los sin voz, voz del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, transmitiendo desde las montañas del sureste mexicano`` but `new` latest audio is dated 20 April 2009! The page ``Programas semanales de Onda Corta`` says: ``Estos programas de Radio Insurgente están dirigidos a la sociedad civil nacional e internacional. Se transmiten semanalmente, todos los sábados a las 15:00 horas (hora del centro de México GMT-6) en la frecuencia 6.0 MHz en la banda de 49 metros. Cada programa tiene una duración de aproximadamente una hora. Puedes escucharlos o bajarlos para su retransmisión. Para escucharlos haz clic en Escuchar. Para bajarlos haz clic en el botón derecho del ratón (con la opción "guardar como").`` So it says Saturdays 1500 local time = 2100 UT, not 0900, mis- converted! Except local time is now UT -5 = 2000 UT, in stark daylight when 6000 if really on the air is not going to penetrate very far even with decent power which this is unlikely to enjoy. Unless RHC lend them a transmitter, a theory we have always doubted. And the broadcasts listed on this page are from no later than 2008y (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Mexico's Exa FM now in South Texas « on: April 07, 2011, 06:58:52 AM » rimember: While researching my Mexican radio web site I came across something interesting. Mexican Top 40/pop giant Exa FM now claims two stations in far south Texas. Exa is based at flagship XHEXA in Mexico City but syndicates the concept, format, imagery, etc. all across Mexico. Exa's latest station list includes 95.1 in Rio Grande City (class A KRGX) and 87.7 in Uvalde (the audio side of analog LPTV channel 6 K06PB.) You might recall Border Media used to run Spanish top 40/pop "Digital" (pronounced dee-hee-TALL) on 104.1 in San Antonio and 104.9/92.5 in Austin. Digital is Exa's main competitor and orginates at XHPOP in Mexico City. Silverthree, rimember: I came across this station last week. I thought Reynosa had a new station until I searched the FCC and found the nearest 95.1 was licensed to Rio Grande City. The signal isn't as strong as other stations but I can still pick it up in Mission / McAllen (radio-info.com via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** MICRONESIA [and non]. 4755.4, April 15 at 0940, JBA carrier, presumed PMA The Cross, by carefully comparing to WTWW 5755.0, 1.000 MHz lower on FRG-7 BFO; WTWW carrier is as usual slightly unstable, hard to zero-beat exactly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. 7220, April 16 at 0545 TWR chime IS, into Slavic language, fair signal. HFCC shows 0545-0615 daily in Polish/Czech, 100 kW, 65 degrees from ``Monte Carlo`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, V. of Mongolia (the last logging of Mongolia, I promise!!). Noticed their signal went off the air again at 1028. Back on and usual ID, M with Mongolian ID followed by W with English ID. ID and English language sked, "Welcome to the Voice of Mongolia in English. This half hour transmission can be heard on a daily basis in Australia, South Asia, and Europe at 1030 UTC on 12085 kiloHertz, and again at 1530 UTC on 12085 kiloHertz shortwave" (notice not 9665). News feature on Mongolian industry and economy. Music, then feature on the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight. More music, then final ID by same studio W announcer as "This is the end of the program which comes to you from Ulaan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolia. The Voice of Mongolia provides a half hour English transmission on a daily basis to Australia, South Asia, and Europe at 1030 UTC on 12085 kiloHertz. And again at 1530 UTC on 12085 kiloHertz shortwave. We welcome your letters and detailed reception reports with comments. Please send them to the English Section, The Voice of Mongolia, P.O. Box 365, Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. Goodbye". Best signal heard yet. Should get better as the solar cycle approaches its peak. (13 April) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) What`s the latest frequency sked for Mongolia, Wolfy?? OK at 1030 UT on 12085 kHz, announced 1530 UT or 1500? 12015 kHz? I tried Ulan- Bataar 12015 kHz, but there is a Russian on it, no trace of U-B. I will be writing to them to ask for a frequency change!! (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer April 13 via BC-DX April 20 via DXLD) Hi dear Victor, not sure, not reliable info from U-B yet, but according HFCC see the registrations in March 2011: 4830 2300 1600 32 U-B 10 0 925 mongolian MNG MRT 4850 2200 1600 32 U-B 50 0 925 mongolian MNG MRT 4895 2300 1600 32 U-B 10 0 925 mongolian MNG MRT 7260 0700 1500 32 U-B 50 0 925 mongolian MNG MRT 7260 2300 0500 32 U-B 50 0 925 mongolian MNG MRT 12015 1400 1430 43,44,49,50 U-B 250 178 216 mongolian MNG MRT 12015 1430 1500 43,44,49,50 U-B 250 178 216 chinese MNG MRT 12015 1500 1530 44,45 U-B 250 116 216 japanese MNG MRT 12015 1530 1600 44,45 U-B 250 116 216 english MNG MRT 12085 0900 0930 44,45 U-B 250 116 216 japanese MNG MRT 12085 0930 1000 44,45 U-B 250 116 216 mongolian MNG MRT 12085 1000 1030 44,45 U-B 250 116 216 chinese MNG MRT 12085 1030 1100 43,44,49,50 U-B 250 178 216 english MNG MRT antenna type #925, non-dir corner reflector dipol. #216 curtain antenna (Wolfgang Büschel, April 14, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 20 via DXLD) Re 12015 Ulan Bataar. Hi dear Victor, tried 12015 kHz to listen at various remote Perseus receivers in Europe and Japan! this afternoon at 1400-1450 UT now. 12015: There is undoubtedly V of Mongolia in probably Chinese language section at 1430 UT heard on receiver in Japan with interval signal, and also Samara, Russia in Russian to Near East on exact 12015.000 kHz underneath. But also third broadcaster on this channel, V of Korea of D.P.R. Korea on odd 12015.009 kHz also in Russian. Narrowed the CRI Vietnamese on 12010 kHz, and VOV Japanese 12020 too, and set receiver to small notch of 3 kHz. 12085 is totally free, no transmission at that time (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 17, ibid.) What about 9665 at 1530, previous/alternate frequency clashing with Korea North? (gh, DXLD) ** MOROCCO. Radio Mediterranée International, Nador transmitter site, 9575 kHz. 0445 UT 04/15/2011 Arabic / French, 44334. Tuned in to talk and ID by woman in French and changing to man talking in Arabic. Fair to Good Signal with considerable fading. S-8 (Nick Rumple, Kannapolis, North Carolina, U.S.A., Yaesu FRG-100, 125 foot longwire 40 feet high running East to West, shortwavelistening yg via DXLD) ** MOROCCO [and non]. 15341, April 19 at 1304, RTM Arabic hetting but weaker than HCJB Australia 15340. Yesterday RTM was on 15345 as early as 1235. Nominal change is at 1500, but really whenever they get around to it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOZAMBIQUE. 738, R Mozambique E Nacional. Maputo // 1206. 2011/04/13 wed 1745-1803, Portuguese. OM, news? with correspondents' inputs. ID at 1757 "Moçambique", at 1801 "Nacional". Lots of lightning QRN, much worse than // 1206. Local Sunset 1555. 963, R Mozambique EP Tete. Tete. 2011/04/13 wed 1847-1855 Music, Latin-american, guitar, drums & chorus. Good at first, slight lightning QRN. Suddenly fell apart at 1852, recovered at 1853. Local Sunset 1555. 1008, R Mozambique EI Maputo & Gaza. Maputo. 2011/04/13 wed 1835-1846 Portuguese. Afro music at 1835, Portuguese music at 1840. Good, slight lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1555. 1026, R Mozambique EP Manica. Chimoio. 2011/04/13 wed 1816-1833 Portuguese, OM and YL talking in public hall, later in studio? Good, slight lightning QRN. Local Sunset 1555. 1206, R Mozambique E Nacional. Inhambane // 738. 2011/04/13 wed 1734- 1803, Portuguese. OM, news? with correspondents' inputs. ID at 1757 "Mozambique", at 1801 "Nacional". Fair. Occasional deep fade, with slight lightning QRN, much better than // 738. Local Sunset 1555 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Email received from Radio Nigeria [Abuja, 7275] From: aminum.bumar @ yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 5:39 AM Subject: Acknowlegdement of Shortwave Radio Reprt Dear Madam/Sir, I am directed to write and acknowledge the received of the Shortwave Radio Report you sent to us with a US$1 enclosed. Certainly, the report is of value and interest to our technical and programme staff. The corporation commends your efforts and really appreciate your magnanimity. Our Frequency (in Nigeria) is 7.275 MHz, 41metre in the shortwave band. We also hope you will always tune to "The Voice of Unity" Radio Nigeria, Abuja National station. Many thanks for listening and writing us. Best wishes. Aminu M.B Umar, For, Radio Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria. (Ian Cattermole, April NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Christer Brunström: Voice of Nigeria 15120 QSL-kort samt dekal med texten "Wider, louder, clearer, stronger". Riktigt lustigt med tanke på att Voice of Nigeria hördes med extremt dåligt ljud i morse - i princip gick det inte att uppfatta innehållet i programmet. Voice of Nigeria 15120 QSL-card and streamer with the text "Wider, louder, clearer, stronger". Very funny as Voice of Nigeria was heard with extremely lousy audio this morning –more or less it was impossible to catch the content of the programme (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. 11945, (S10) // 13800 (S7) at 1932 April 16, Hamada R in Arabic/Hausa with talks about Al Qaida, Libya, ID at 1933 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 11945, Hamada R. International via Germany in Hausa: Apr 08 *1930-1940 35433, 1930 sign on with IS, Opening announce, Talk, ID at 1931. Apr 09 *1930-1940 35333, 1930 sign on with IS, Opening announce, Talk, Apr 10 *1930-1940 25332, 1930 sign on with IS, Opening announce, Talk, Apr 12 *1930-1940 35333, 1930 sign on with IS, Opening announce, Talk, (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium April 15 via DXLD) Hamada Radio International in Hausa on April 15/16: 0530-0600 on 9610 WER 100 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Daily 35543 0530-0600 on 9860 WER 100 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Fri-Thu 45544 0530-0600 on 11970 NAU 100 kW / 185 deg to WeAf Daily 45444 1400-1430 on 17860 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Fri-Thu 45333 1400-1430 on 21480 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Daily 24332 1930-2000 on 11945 WER 100 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Daily 54444 1930-2000 on 13800 NAU 100 kW / 185 deg to WeAf Fri-Thu 55544 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17860, April 15 at 1400 carrier, 1400:20 percussion and Hamada Radio International opening ID, about equal to // 21480 which is weaker than usual, but the latter improving after 1405. 17860 is the new April 15- 21 extra frequency for the 1400-1430 broadcast during an elexion week in Nigeria, both 125 kW due south from Wertachtal, GERMANY. See my previous report for full schedule. 21480, April 16 at 1410, Hamada Radio International via Wertachtal, fair signal, but no sign of extra frequency 17860 as scheduled, which was on the air April 15. 17860, Hamada Radio International`s extra frequency for the 1400-1430 broadcast: as previously reported, it was heard on April 15, but not on April 16. On April 17 it was barely audible to // 21480. On April 18 at 1401, 17860 is on again, quite echoey and different from // 21480 reception which had fair signal, not echoey. 17860 must have come on right at 1400 as did not hear a carrier before then. Both via RMI via MBR Wertachtal, GERMANY. Also checked the 0530-0600 broadcast which in different schedule versions lately has been shown on 9545, 9610, 9860 and 11970. April 18 at 0529, open carrier on 9610, 0530 usual percussive opening, and // 9860. There is also a JBA signal on 11970 which I think is //. Earlier at 0528, 11970 had somewhat stronger music. Before 0529 there was Russian on 9545, i.e. DW via Woofferton, but nothing after, as HFCC shows 9545 not used for Hamada after March 31. 17860 and 21460, April 19 at 1400 Hamada Radio International, via RMI via MBR Wertachtal, GERMANY, starting with roughly equal reception, a little better on the lower at the outset. Presumably, 17860 will be used only thru April 21 per registration (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, A quick question for you. I was listening to 17860 this morning from 1402 to 1429 GMT when I heard a broadcast which was possibly in Hausa. I had found your comments about Hamada Radio International using both 17860 and 21480. I checked 21480 and there was no signal. I checked Media Broadcast's web site and their current A11 schedule dated 4-11-11 doesn't show Hamada as a client, nor could I find the frequency of 17860. They do show Radio Miami at 1400 on 21480. I have enough details to try for a QSL. However, I am not sure after reading Media Broadcast's schedule whether they are broadcasting it via Wertachtal. Any ideas? Thanks, (Steve Handler, IL, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Steve, Glad to see you reactivated lately. Radio Miami International is the broker for the Hamada broadcasts, so they are listed as RMI in the MBR and HFCC schedules. I haven`t looked at MBR schedule, but HFCC has both frequencies, via Wertachtal, as in my recent report with 17860 a one-week-only(?) addition starting April 15. I was also listening today and did hear both 17860 and 21480 at 1400. May not have checked later, in case 21480 did go off the air for some reason. Jeff White at WRMI will QSL this: I have one from a few months ago. Not sure whether HRI itself will. 73, (Glenn to Steve via DXLD) Thanks, Glenn. I figured if anyone would know the answer it would be you. I never lost interest in radio, I just spent time playing on the ham bands both QRP and low power. I ventured back into SW for a short while in 2000-2001 and then again in 2007-2008. I came back to SW again last fall. Although in the good old days of 1960's and 1970's I split my time between SW[BC] and utes, today utes hold almost no interest. Opposition and Clandestine broadcasts interest me. Back when RNI flew the Jolly Roger I liked pirates, but today, at least so far they hold no interest. I will send Jeff White a report. The only address I have for Hamada is a UK email address that was published in the WRTH online supp. Since it is a brokered slot, I wonder if Walter at Media Broadcast would QSL? All my best, (Steve Handler, ibid.) 17860, April 20 at 1404, Hamada Radio International via Wertachtal, GERMANY, with Hausa talk and music, fair-good signal while nothing making it on 21480, nor anything else on 13m. This is supposedly the penultimate day for extra frequency 17860. Since they are Hausa, may we assume that HRI are anti-Jonathan? Our condolences. WWV reported: ``Geophysical Alert Message Solar-terrestrial indices for 19 April follow. Solar flux 111 and mid-latitude A-index 6. The mid-latitude K-index at 1200 UTC on 20 April was 3 (22 nT). The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 20 April was 3 (26 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. USA - Pirate, Channel Z Radio, 15 April 2011 from 2315 to 2332 UT on 6923 kHz AM with a program of music to usher in spring and summer. Music like "Time of the Season," "Groovin," "Get Together." ID'd as "You have the last channel you'll ever need, Channel Z." Nice signal despite static bursts from an impending storm moving in to my area. SINPO=35333, peaking at S8 dB (Ed Insinger, NJ, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WEAK: see U S A ** OKLAHOMA. WKY 930 is still there with Spanish 24/7, mostly música mexicana. When I was a teenager, it was the #1 "top 40" station in the Oklahoma City market. It had a better nighttime signal and more popular DJ than KOMA. One of KOMA's DJs in the mid-60's was John Ravencroft. He is best known as John Peel of the BBC. KOMA's most popular DJ was probably Dale Wehba, who'd left WKY for the job. Another, was Johnny Dark. One of WKY's former DJs, the ever popular Ronnie Kaye, can still be heard at mid-day on KOMA-FM. Today, it's the only decent oldies station in the OKC market. Good DX (Richard Allen, 36?22'51"N / 97?26'35"W, April 3, IRCA via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. On the sixteenth anniversary of the OKC bombing, the Big Four TV stations all covered the ceremony live from the site, around 1400 UT April 19. Instead of a pool feed, each had their own coverage. Strange thing was, KFOR-27`s rostrum camera, the main one focusing on the speakers, was in stretcho-vision, fattening everyone. Our governor Fallin suddenly had a round face instead of an oval one (and her roots were showing as she had pulled her hair back to keep it from blowing in the considerable wind --- ``Shux, I wouldn`ta voted fur her if`n I`da knowed she ain`t no blonde!``) All the other stations, and KFOR`s shots from other cameras were properly configured. But on channel `4`, in order to get the picture right, we would have had to keep switching the DTV converter between ``squeezed`` and non-squeezed = letterbox or cropped. All the still- store slide photos of the 168 victims, whose names are always read every year, were unsqueezed, so if we squeezed the picture to make the live video correct, their faces were far too vertical. Yes, this distracted from the solemnity of the event (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman. Thumrait. 2011/04/10 sun 1736-1742, Arabic. 2 x OM talking. Fair. (In fact surprisingly good, since HFCC A11 also lists English from the same site at the same time and frequency. No sign of the other transmission). Local Sunset 1558 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz., surely the middle entry is imaginary: 15140 1400 1500 28,39N THU 100 315 1234567 270311 301011 D Eng 15140 1400 2200 48,53 THU 100 220 1234567 270311 301011 D Eng 15140 1500 2200 28,39N THU 100 315 1234567 270311 301011 D Arb OMA RSO RSO (HFCC via DXLD) ** PALAU. 9930, April 17 at 1312, co-channel QRM between singing and a YL preacher mentioning her sked on various stations including KFNX 1100 (which keeps spamming me to buy time for WORLD OF RADIO), and offering free! bookmark with her schedule on request from 95252 --- No! It`s not CCI, but deliberate programming, for at 1314 both stop and WHR promo starts in the clear including long-distance phone number 011+. Is anyone really going to phone South Bend from Pacificasia?? 1315 ``Easy English Studies`` by reading Psalm XXIII, follow along in your Bible --- but which of countless versions? That could be quite confusing unless they match. ``I shall not want``? What does that mean? Virtually the opposite of current usage. Archaic! HFCC shows ``HBN`` which really means T8WH, 100 kW, 345 degrees from Koror (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: above log was on Sunday, while on Thursday this was heard at same time: PALAU. 9930 14/4 1303-1328 R Hoa-Mai (pres) YL talk and song in Vietnamese jammed by non-stop sirene and horn. On 1323 one song by female unable to be heard due to addition of another sound. Jamming continued during and after T8WH religious program 1330-1400, but not until 1415 (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3205, R. Sandaun (West Sepik). As of April 14 has been off the air since my April 10 reception; seems to have only broadcast for 2 days; noted by “peace-J”, et al. in Japan on April 9 (UT). BTW – A reminder that “peace-J” has an excellent website that contains current “Sounds log” at http://www.peace-j.net/ as well as an extensive library of older audio clips. It’s well worth checking out. 3205, R. Sandaun (West Sepik). April 15, happy to report them back on the air again. 1028 faint signal; island pop songs; 1040-1053 YL and OM in conversation; 1102 become // 3385 (NBC East New Britain) with PNG birdcall and National News in English; erratic schedule (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3204.97, R. Sandaun, 1047 end of pop song, then M in Pidgin metnioning "service", and possibly Papua New Guinea and R. Sandaun, "broadcast", and ended with timecheck, then back to music. 1052 live M announcer again with song, possible mention of Sandaun, etc. 1053 more music. Kind of weak and very fady. Glad this one came back on. (16 April) (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) 3205, R. Sandaun (West Sepik). 0942-1115*, April 16. Island pop songs; news; weak signal. Audio at http://www.box.net/shared/qryoyd03ts contains drums; mentions “Health(?) Department”; drums again; ending with series of PNG birdcalls and off. Too weak to be sure of the language most of the time; also QRN. Dave Valko on the east coast was also listening to this today! Tomorrow would be a good day to check on this and other PNG stations, as on Sunday they often carry sermons in English, making for easier IDing (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3205, R. Sandaun (West Sepik). 1005, April 17. NBC National News in English (mandatory evacuation near Philippine volcano, etc.); into Tok Pisin and island songs (suspect most were religious); on air calls; singing NBC jingle; 1106 - “4 past 9”; music dedications; 1107 tune out. Better reception than yesterday; clearly able to differentiate the languages (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, R. East New Britain, 1047 studio M announcer taking phone calls. Was having problems with call as it was continually dropping out, announcer apologized, gave phone #'s, into lively island song followed by part of rap song. 1053 M and another call from child named "Lauren". Good signal and no ute QRM. (16 April). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) 3385, NBC East New Britain, April 16. They continue to be consistent with their suddenly going off the air at 1225. The only anomaly I have recently observed was on April 10, when they went off at 1146 (power outage?). 3385, NBC East New Britain, 1127, April 17. Bank ad about “savings accounts”; religious show in Tok Pisin; 1209 repeat of bank ad; 1210 the normal Sunday syndicated Christian religious program “Beyond Today” with Steve Myers in English; almost fair (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 5960, Radio Fly, 0959, April 10. “Hello there to all our good listeners to Radio Fly”; safety coordinator gave tips on how to prevent industrial “falling from heights”; 1002 ID “Radio Fly 103.8”; nice audio of these at http://www.box.net/shared/c3m7bdgq8v (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Was pleased to receive the following email from Christoph Ratzer (Austria). Nice to know that he was successful in contacting Radio Fly. Hope that Jayso will at some point have a QSL card to send out to us. Ron, San Francisco - - - - - Hello Ron! "THANK YOU" for your contact infos of Radio Fly. I could listen to Fly last November here in Salzburg using a 250 mt Beverage, but never received any answer from Jobby. So I sent yesterday again my report to James So-on and received a very short answer: ``Hi Chris, Good to know you're picking the signal, I can confirm 5960 kHz is our frequency and glad was able to pick it up. Keep me posted. Cheers, jayso`` Better than nothing. So nice to receive this mail from Radio Fly! 73 from Salzburg (Christoph, via Ron Howard, ibid.) E: Reception of Radio Fly - Request for QSL (verification) card Fyi about Radio Fly QSLing. Regards, (akbarig gunawan, April 20, HCDX via DXLD) Viz.: From: So-on, James Subject: Reception of Radio Fly - Request for QSL (verification) card Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 9:25 PM Hi Mr Gunawan, Thanks for the submission of the report. In the meantime we are yet to organize QSL card in reference to that matter. My apology however am happy to receive report and hear reception out at your location. Keep me posted in future till we get this QSL thing done. I will be away for my 2 week field break and resume on 06th of May however please submit report and I’ll reply when resume duty. Cheers, Jayso (via Gunawan, ibid.) 5960, Radio Fly in Tok Pisin and English at 1003-1047 UT, April 12. Pop music; a man spoke; island music; call-in program. Audible almost every day here in the center of North America, and on April 12 signal was fair. More than 1 kW now? QSL 5960. In 4 hours e-mail promising QSL card when printed from Michael Miise, and in 5 hours partial-data e-letter from James So-on, for reports to and Thanks to Ron Howard for discovering and posting Radio Fly e-mail addresses! (Wendel Craighead, KS, DXplorer Apr 14 via BCDX April 20 via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.96, Wantok Radio Light, 0850, English, pentecostal sermon by a man, very warbly signal if tuned in sideband, best copy in AM mode. 28 March (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4790, Radio Visión de Chiclayo, heard during overnight slot Fri nite 4/16. Noted 0840 with fiddle huaynos, seguéd, and regular IDs and time/checks by OM for "Radio Visión", reverbed, over the music. Weak to fair signal only, blipping ute a real problem here. But still, this time slot may be the best way for NA DXers to hear this one, as R Visión de Chiclayo is scheduled to run all-night every day except Sunday, and has nice listening OA folkloric "Programa Musical" at 0800-0930 GMT. Reminds me of back in the day, when more LA stations used to run all-night with folkloric programming, peticiones and saludos to listeners, etc.! (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, Illinois, Drake R8B; JRC NRD545; Eton E1; Hallicrafters SX100; Knightkit Star Roamer; Dentron Super Tuner + Ameco PLF-2 + Palomar P-408; Longwires (150' + 100') plus homebrew tunable small loop, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Until a couple years ago, this was an easy catch, good signal just about any night. Something changed (gh, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) 4790, Radio Visión, Chiclayo, 0550-0603, 20-04, after various weeks I can't listen it, today on air in the early morning with good signal here in the NW of Spain. Religious songs in Spanish and comments by male: "La Voz de la Salvación". 24432 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4789.93, Radio Visión, 1019, Spanish, sermon by a man with response from congregation, good signal but some CODAR QRM. 20 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Esta mañana he escuchado una emisora peruana, sin identificar en 4850.8 sobre las 1100 UT. Todo parecería indicar que es R. Génesis de Huanta escuchada en el DX Camp Potrerillos 2010 en la misma frecuencia. Cualquier info será bienvenida. Un abrazo (Miguel Castellino, April 14, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hola Miguel, Cordial saludo, también la he escuchado pero es bien esquiva en dar su identificación; con cierre variable 0030-0100, solo con música y predicaciones evangélicas. Por las referencias debe tratarse de la emisora que menciona. Me es difícil chequearla en horas de la mañana pero voy a tratar este fin de semana (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C.- Colombia, ibid.) Gracias Rafael!!!! El año pasado con Arnaldo Slaen y Alejandro Alvarez, en Potrerillos en julio del 2010, pudimos identificar a R. Génesis en esa fq. Pienso que es la misma, pero al pasar tanto tiempo tampoco me extrañaría que haya cambiado de nombre o, más difícilmente, que se trate de otra emisora. Un abrazo (Miguel Castellino, ibid.) ** PERU. 4954,993 14.4 0100 Radio Cultural Amauta med c/d denna tid. 4954.993, 14.4 0100, Radio Cultural Amauta, with close/down at this time (Anders Hultqvist, Dalarö, (Stockholm Archipelago), Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) So really 7 Hz low, not 4955.000 (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 5039.18, Radio Libertad, 0945-1005 April 19, When first tuned in, heard only the carrier; however, at 0951 with a slight adjustment the signal suddenly got better allowing the audio to be heard. Caught a male in Spanish language comments using the echo effect. At 0956 the signal really improves and details become easier to hear. Heard "Lima" mentioned a couple of times then. At 0957 music. 1000 canned ID by a male over the music. It was too weak to copy (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Re 11-15: ``18057.9, April 9 at 1342 some JBA wailing from David Miranda, so the third harmonic of R. Victoria, 6019.3v is propagating, while easterly signals on 16m are not making it today; and unusually, nothing audible on 13m at 1345 or 1420. Yet WWV was reporting no space weather storms in past 24 hours, solar flux 109 on 8 April, K indices only 1 on 9 April at 1200, 2 at 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Aha! This is what I had a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't log the date or time (late morning or early afternoon). It was Spanish and Spanish male Christian preaching. I forgot about this long-reported harmonic. I'll have to revisit it when the MUF allows (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.22, Radio Victoria, 0720, usual long-winded sermon by a man. Worth noting, I've not heard // 9720v over past weeks. 16 April (David Sharp, NSW: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, ICF-SW7600GR, PR-D5, ICF-2010, Timewave 599zx, MFJ 1026, MFJ 959C, Palstar MW550P, SP-2000 speaker. Also 100m noise-reducing aerial and 50m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.2, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0603-0612, 20-04, religious program in Spanish "La Voz de la Liberación". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Logs in Lugo, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9855, FEBC, *1058 Caught IS with ID routine, 1100 religious instrumental music and opening announcement by M in language. As I was listening, I recognized the IS but couldn't recall what station. It was still too distorted and too weak to copy the voice ID at the time. Doing a search of the frequency, I saw that V. of Turkey, R. Netherlands, R. Cairo, DW, and V. of Russia have all been using this frequency recently. I then tried to match up the IS with those stations on the http://www.intervalsignals.net/ website but didn't have any luck. While scrolling through the list of countries, just by pure chance I stopped at the Philippines and clicked on FEBC. Amazingly that was the IS and it matched up perfectly!!!! Listened to my recording again and could then copy the "FEBC Radio." ID between IS repetitions. Of all the countries/stations IS's on the "intervalsignals" website, it`s incredible I found the right one so quickly out of the blue!!! (16 April) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. Hi folks, It's been quite a while since one of our valued members alerted us to the wonderful FEBC Online Photo Archive. I recently took another look, but it's obviously been at least a few years since I last visited the site. Anyway to cut a long story short; the archive has been significantly updated with a huge number of new photos, added from mid 2008 & later. There's now a mass of terrific SW transmission site images with accompanying notes dating back to the late 40's & 50's & to more recent times. Of interest to our group are antenna, feeder, building & transmitter pics of the following SW stations & sites: KGEI, KFBS & 3 of the FEBC sites. If only more broadcasters would or could do something similar. The archive is located here: http://febinfo.org/photo/photosummary.php Just select the set of photos you're interested in. Google Maps also now has 45 degree view of the former KGEI transmitter site where one can still see the SW mast concrete foundation plates. Now thanks to the FEBC photo archive we can now see many great images of the former transmission antennas and more. Enjoy! (Ian Baxter, Shortwavesites YG via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. PELA MANUTENÇÃO DAS ONDAS CURTAS DA RDPI Amigos, Segue petição pela manutenção das ondas curtas da RDPi, creio que o maior complexo em ondas curtas em língua portuguesa. Adoro a faixa de 13 metros, mas é de raras estações (pelo menos pra mim). http://www.peticaopublica.com/?pi=P2011N9010 73 (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, Apirl 19, radioescugtas yg via DXLD) 253 signatures so far. Is it in some imminent danger, or just to head off some eventual threat? (Glenn Hauser, April 20, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 11955 // weaker 11795, April 14 at 2346 a Beethoven piano concerto at frenetic tempo. I can`t pull myself away from a welcome bit of classical music on SW, even tho I know it must be RRI, and they will disrespectfully dump out of it before it`s over: seems like the coda is almost complete when they do fade it out at 2352 to talk Spanish about an oratorio involved in EBU concerts to be performed April 17, and then some of that. HFCC shows RRI Spanish at 23-24: 11795, 300 kW, 280 degrees from Galbeni 11955, 300 kW, 247 degrees from Tiganeshti – So 11795 is aimed further north than 11955; why is it weaker? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Summer A-11 schedule of Radio Romania International: Arabic 0630-0657 on 11730 11790 15180 15400 1400-1457 on 11830 11945 15160 15490 Aromanian 1430-1457 on 7340 1630-1657 on 5980 1830-1857 on 5920 Chinese 0400-0427 on%15530 17780 1300-1327 on 15435 17600 English 0000-0057 on 7385 9580 0300-0357 on 7335 9645 11895 15340 0530-0557 on !7305 9655 17760 21500 1100-1157 on 15210 15430 17510 17670 1700-1729 on @7350 1700-1757 on *9535 11735 2030-2057 on !9765 11880 11940 13800 2200-2257 on 5960 7435 9790 11940 French 0100-0157 on 7385 9570 0500-0527 on$11810 9655 15340 17770 1000-1057 on 11830 15240 15380 17785 1600-1657 on 9680 11950 2000-2027 on $9655 11970 German 0600-0627 on *7230 9740 1200-1257 on 9675 11875 1600-1629 on #7460 1800-1857 on 7240 *9495 Italian 1400-1427 on 9800 1600-1627 on 9610 1800-1827 on ^7425 Romanian 0000-0057 on 7355 9525 0100-0157 on 7355 9525 0400-0457 on 9770 11920 0700-0757 on 9700 11970 15270 17720 "Curierul romanesc" Sun 0800-0857 on 11870 11970 15450 15700 "Curierul romanesc" Sun 0900-0957 on 11830 15240 15380 17600 "Curierul romanesc" Sun 1200-1257 on 7300 11920 15195 1300-1357 on 11920 15195 1500-1557 on 9855 11895 1600-1657 on 9690 11825, last freq. is not in DRM mode 1700-1757 on 11970 15310 1800-1857 on 11970 15310 1900-1957 on 11970 15310 Russian 0430-0457 on &7390 9800 1330-1357 on 11835 15140 1500-1557 on&11615 9690 Serbian 1530-1557 on 6025 1730-1757 on 6125 1930-1957 on 6125 Spanish 0200-0257 on 7400 9520 9645 11945 1900-1957 on 9700 11715 2100-2157 on 9755 11965 2300-2357 on 9655 9745 11795 11955 Ukrainian 1500-1527 on 5945 1700-1727 on 6135 1900-1927 on 5910 * DRM via TIG 090 kW / 307 deg ^ DRM via TIG 090 kW / 270 deg % DRM via TIG 090 kW / 067 deg & DRM via TIG 090 kW / 027 deg ! DRM via GAL 090 kW / 300 deg $ DRM via GAL 090 kW / 285 deg @ DRM via KVI 035 kW / 220 deg # DRM via KVI 035 kW / 160 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 18 April via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 12065, April 15 at 1338 interview in English, OM subject sounds American. Too poor to follow, 1349 VOR ID. HFCC shows 500 kW, 205 degrees via Chita at 1100-1400. Aoki breaks this down as English 11-12 and 13-14 with Vietnamese in between. See also TATARSTAN [non] 11500, April 16 at 1322 talk in S Asian language, hum. Aoki shows VOR in Hindi via TAJIKISTAN at 13-14. That`s missing from HFCC, instead listing R. Bulgaria DRM at 10-18, fortunately not really in use. 12070, fair April 17 at 0537, ``For Me & My Gal``, then Russian announcement. R. Rossii sure plays a lot of American music - good for them, and us. HFCC shows 250 kW, 265 degrees from Moscow at 04-08. Meanwhile I checked VOR English to NAm on 13775 and they were talking about microörganisms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12175, V of Russia, 2040 16 April in French with ID. However this seems to me as splatter signal, nearly FMish though uncopy-able to my radio's FM demodulator! S7 with main frequency on 12030 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Re 11-15, >> VoR A-11 (version April 8). Only few changes, compared to recent file version of April 6, download by Mike Bethge earlier this week.`` "KAVKAZ" program to Caucasus area is added, using new 500 kW unit on 1395 kHz mediumwave via Yerevan Gavar-Armenia site. << --- What's the scope of this file, considering that it shows 1395 but omits 171 (Tbilisskaya, i.e. Armavir/Krasnodar, 1200 kW) and 657 (Grozny 50 kW, new transmission facility with Transradio TRAM-50 gear)? Are 171 and 657 booked by VGTRK instead, which appears to be involved in this domestic/external hybrid service? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. Re 11-15: >> Russian schedule of new relay site in Switzerland not published yet. 558 kHz Cima di Dentro-SUI 200 kW EUR could be probably in Russian at 05-08, 13-15, 20-22 UT ? << --- Meanwhile a vague hint from Switzerland appeared, suggesting that the transmitter is on air 1000-1200 and 1500-2000 only, with Italian 1700-1800, French 1900-2000 and German in the remaining hours (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 14268-USB, April 16 at 0539, RL3A working all over in contest, including a TI, ZL, VE7, W`s; uses fonetix Radio London, and also Romeo Lima. Name is Slava, in Moscow. QRZ.com shows: RL3A Amateur Radio Club ROSTO Sosnovaya alleya, dom 4, stroyenie 1 Moscow, Zelenograd, 124489 Russia See website: http://www.rk3awl.ru/index-e.php (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) *** SARAWAK [non]. Radio Free Sarawak in Malay 1000-1200 on 15420 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs + test // on 15425 VLD 500 kW / 220 deg to SEAs, from today April 14 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-15, WORLD OF RADIO 1561) Thanks. But 15425 plays Indian music? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The music test is again on on 15425 kHz. Mostly rock. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, music test today April 15 1000-1200 on 15425 VLD 500 kW / 220 deg to SEAs, not Radio Free Sarawak! Please check tomorrow at same time on new 15500 VLD 500 kW / 220 deg to SEAs, maybe ex 15425 73! (Ivo Ivanov, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Free Sarawak received at 1600-1800 UT on 15335 kHz newly on Apr. 15. Probably I seem to be the Dushanbe transmission. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Free Sarawak on Apr. 15. 1000-1200 UT 15420 Koror 1200-1300 15420 Dushanbe? 1300-1600 15400 Dushanbe? 1600-1800 15335 Dushanbe? de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, ibid.) Re 11-15: >> Radio Free Sarawak in Malay 1000-1200 on 15420 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs + test // on 15425 VLD 500 kW / 220 deg to SEAs, from today April 14 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) << Has 15425 indeed been observed as carrying Radio Free Sarawak, // 15420? A completely different story about this "test": http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/radio-free-sarawak-says-its-being-jammed (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RADIO FREE SARAWAK SAYS IT’S BEING JAMMED Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) says it is being jammed in connection with the upcoming Malaysian elections. RFS says it will continue to attempt to monitor the elections and bring information to the people of Sarawak, along with many other internet news providers who have been under continual attack over the past week . RFS says it can confirm that the first jamming transmission happened yesterday with a test the day before, all on 15425kHz which is right next to the RFS frequency of 15420 kHz. It says its experts have traced the attack to a known agent in Belgium, who is an established broker of transmission times. He has admitted that he has been hired to broadcast at the same time and on the same frequency as RFS, which is on the air at 1000-1200 UTC. RFS says: “This activity is against all international broadcasting agreements and a violation by a respectable operator. However, he has admitted that the contract is worth a considerable amount of money to him, as he has been hired until December, although it is clearly only the next two days before the elections that are important. The broker has been paid to broadcast his gospel music sounds across the Radio Free Sarawak signal range at double the normal broadcast strength at a full 200 kiloWatts, which will cost around US$200 an hour at commercial rates, a full $400 a day. This, times the 270 remaining days of the year, makes the contract worth a minimum of US $108,000 - the cost of what it has taken to get Radio Free Sarawak off the air for the remaining two days of the election. RFS continues: “Our information is that the broker, who has also brokered a jamming operation against an anti-Gaddafi station in the past, made its first transmission through Russia, Vladivostok yesterday, with a weaker signal also going through the Ukraine on exactly the same frequency as RFS, 15420kHz. The broker admitted that he had asked the Russians to go directly onto the RFS signal but that, mindful of international protocols, they had refused. After pressure, the Russians agreed to broadcast on the overly close 15420kHz [sic - presumably they mean 15425] at a very powerful signal instead, which would have a similar blocking effect.” RFS says it is currently taking measures to vigorously protest at the illegal action and will also be taking measures to rebroadcast its show to audiences in Sarawak. (Source: Radio Free Sarawak) Andy Sennitt comments: A few days ago, the Malaysian government admitted that it could not jam RFS because that would contravene the Human Rights Convention of Geneva. By arranging for a private broker in another country to generate some ‘deliberate harmful interference’ - the ‘polite’ term for jamming - it presumably thinks that it can get around the rules. What strikes me as odd is that the broker in Belgium has apparently spoken openly about the contract. It will be interesting to see what happens after the election. BTW I am not allowing comments on this item, as some readers of this Weblog know the identity of the broker in question. It’s regrettable that some people put the accumulation of personal wealth ahead of supporting press freedom (April 15th, 2011 - 15:40 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) So some monitoring would be urgently needed. What is carried on 15425? Btw, the mentioned case of the Libyan opposition broadcasts went the other way round: The "transmission provider from Belgium" had arranged Grigoriopol slots for it, and it were "a transmitter operator in a European country between Germany and Spain" plus "a broadcasting operation in Gabon, originally set up by a French company" who did the jamming (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420, R. Free Sarawak via Koror-Palau, 1139-1200, April 16. Thanks to the timely alert in dxldyg from Sei-ichi Hasegawa and Hiroshi, heard in vernacular; probably a patriotic song with mentions of "Sarawak"; several on air calls (naturally numerous mentions of "Sarawak"); Carpenters singing "Top of The World"; 1159 instrumental music; audio ended at 1200. Not sure what happened after that; seemed to be an open carrier; by 1204 could make out a test tone which ended at 1207; did not hear any audio after 1200. Signal started out poor and went to very poor by ToH (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Free Sarawak website available again The website of Radio Free Sarawak http://www.radiofreesarawak.org/ is available again after being blocked for the past several days by the Malaysian authorities in the run-up to the Sarawak state election. Despite reports of jamming to the shortwave transmission, it’s again possible to listen online to high quality audio on demand. The election is now over. Results and analysis are available at Free Malaysia Today. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/ (April 16th, 2011 - 17:28 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Radio Free Sarawak JAMMED --- Has anyone heard any more about the jamming of Radio Free Sarawak? The name that has been popping up as doing it is TDP and Ludo Maes. If this is the case, it makes me sick. I have sent a few messages to him on facebook, mobile phone and email. But have not had any reply. hummmmm! (Keith Perron, Taiwan, 0401 UT April 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Audio of a portion of my reception April 16 at http://www.box.net/shared/bjdt9xez98 No jamming heard. Consists of a phone conversation about a Sarawak website followed by Carpenters singing "Top of The World" (Ron Howard, San Francisco, ibid.) 15420, R. Free Sarawak via Koror-Palau. April 17 their programming was not carried; instead played non-stop western classical music; noted 1110, 1120-1123, 1152, 1233. Much stronger signal today than yesterday. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/15/gospel-music-jamming-radio-free-sarawak/ has a story about jamming. Whoever is attempting it must not realize what frequency R. Free Sarawak is actually on; today heard non-stop heavy metal/rock music (certainly not like any “gospel music” I have ever heard) on 15425, the frequency given in the story; it ended about 1200. Strange developments! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The original publication: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/15/gospel-music-jamming-radio-free-sarawak/ I assume that "our experts" refers to Babcock, their transmission provider, and they obviously contacted TDP. It appears that for the reported adjacent-channel transmission on 15425 a HFCC update exists, judging from what Glenn had in his latest DXLD: "Radio Free Sarawak in Malay 1000-1200 on 15420 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs + test // on 15425 VLD 500 kW / 220 deg to SEAs, from today April 14 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX LISTENING DIGEST)" It seems that Ivo believes that the Ussuriysk transmitter on 15425 is in use *by* Radio Free Sarawak, which does not appear to be the case; the newspaper report mentions "gospel music" instead, which would indicate typical music jamming. Wouldn't it be easier for RTRS (the Russian transmitter operator) if they simply take out one of the old tapes they used for that purpose until 1988? But all this in the first place needs to be confirmed by monitoring. Is this 15425 from Ussuriysk really on air, and if yes, which modulation does it carry? In such a case independent observations are of course indispensable. It would be also interesting to know the details of the presumed HFCC update: Frequency managing organization, regulator, broadcaster, the usual last three columns. Not correct are the informations that have been given to Radio Free Sarawak as quoted "She said that from the information she has gathered, the broker has also coordinated a jamming operation against an anti-Muammar Gaddafi station in the past." Perhaps someone simply confused TDP with TDF, Télédiffusion de France. These anti-Gaddafi broadcasts about five years ago had been brokered by TD*P* and transmit via Grigoriopol. Libya instead "purchased" the jamming from TD*F*, which at this time aired LJBC programming via its Issoudun transmitters, much facilitating such "special service". Further jamming had been done by Africa No.1 with a music tape. In the case of Issoudun it were adjacent, perhaps in some cases also co- channel transmissions with both LJBC and RFI program audio (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420, R. Free Sarawak via .?., 1205-1211, April 18. In vernacular with a phone conversation/report with mentions of “Sarawak” and “democratic”; signal fading down; very poor by tune out; nothing on 15425 (the “jamming” frequency). Pre-1200 reception heard by Mauno Ritola (Finland) with RFS on 15420 and gospel music “jamming”(?) on 15425. Yesterday’s non-stop western classical music on 15420 must have just been a substitute filler due to a problem with the audio feed for RFS programming (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420.034, Radio Free Sarawak (Tentative), 1210-1220 April 18, Noted a male and female in Language(?) comments like a newscast until 1214. At that time singing type music began. Probably local type music? Anyway, signal remained fair until 1220 when it began to fade badly due to the local sunrise getting higher. At the beginning however, the signal was rather easy to hold onto (Chuck Bolland, WR-DDC31, Clewiston FL, 26N 081W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420 kHz between 1210-1250 with non stop Western Classical Music 454 today 19th April 2011. None of the usual phone in program of Radio Free Sarawak (Supratik Sanatani, Kolkata, India, ibid.) Hi Supratik, Yes, another day when 15420 seemed to have a problem with the R. Free Sarawak audio feed. Earlier at 1135 and 1149, I also noticed the non-stop western classical music. What was interesting to me was that there was nothing on the so-called "jamming" frequency of 15425. Recently that broadcast either non-stop rock music or gospel music, but not today (April 19). What will tomorrow bring? (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, ibid.) Technical problems or simply cancelled and replaced by the new slots reported here? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) April 20, on 15420 at 1143 heard again with non-stop western classical music. 15425 had nothing (Ron Howard, California, ibid.) Perhaps just no longer propagating into California due to a site change, 2000 km northwestwards? I have seen an update that now shows "IRK", i.e. Angarsk (as opposed to the old transmitters at Irkutsk itself), still 500 kW, from this location now due south. Frequency managing organization is "GFC", the office of Mr. Titov from the old USSR days as far as I know (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15170, April 15 at 0345 HQS with, what else, Qur`an beautifully sung, fair with flutter and no CCI yet. It`s stronger by 0359 but now I can tell modulation is somewhat distorted and splattering. One of those defective BSKSA transmitters. Well, they have some new DRM-capable ones which will do even more damage if employed in that mode. Best to hear this during the first hour from 0300, as after 0400 CRI can clash via Kashgar, East Turkistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Information about Arabian radio --- Dear friend, yesterday when I come back in my home and opening my mail box I try an envelop that on February I sent to Arabian Radio with enclose some reception reports of English programs that I listened with the address delete, perhaps the postal address was wrong even if I copy from WRTH. I tried to Internet the eventual exact postal address of Saudi Arabia Radio but I try the same address that I wrote in the envelope that is SAUDI ARABIA RADIO - BSKSA Frecuency Manager - English Service P.o. Box 61718 RYIAD 11575 (Saudi Arabia) Someone can tell me something? I'll take the opportunity to say good bye and to wish my best Easter holidays (GABRIELLI Dario, Viale della Resistenza, 33b, 30031 DOLO (Ve) ITALY, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, April 18 at 1441, WWRB sticking with Brother Scare instead of E-Persian Radio we were treated to on Sat- Sun. Earlier in the hour, horrible caterwauling by a BS psychophant was heard on 17485 Germany, 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Re 11-15: Without reading the discussion about 1359 in detail: Has it already been considered that the DRM signal could be generated in such a way that a carrier is present? I think this had been done on 6085, and it is perhaps the result of avoiding more modifications of the transmitter (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE 10440 kHz? 10440 kHz AM REE in Spanish? Heard now at 1820 UT here in Alemania. 73 Harald Kuhl, Germany, April 14, DXplorer via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) 17715 minus 7275 = 10440 kHz. Antenna azimuth 50 degrees, and opposite 230 degrees. 7275 50 1700-2300 Diaria Sp Esp, exc M-F 1730-1800 17715 230 1400-2200 Sunday Dom Sp Esp 17715 230 1500-1900 Mo-Fr L a V Sp Esp 17715 230 1600-2200 Saturday Sab Sp Esp Similar intermodulations on Emirler TRT Turkey site. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. Since various versions of the REE A-11 schedule are unreliable and contradictory, I check out the alleged Catalan/Galician/Basque token newscasts shown on one at 2330-2345 M-F: April 14 at 2330 yes, in Catalan, 2335 sea-shanty theme and into Gallego, but 2340 back into Castilian with other programming; audible on all four frequencies on air at this time, in decreasing quality: 11680, 9535, 9620, 15160. All these are direct, so no one can benefit from the CR relay in the Americas! Basque was removed from the mix six months ago when it got its own expanded separate slot. In B-10 Catalan and Galician were repeated at a secret time, 0505- 0515, discovered by WRTH, so I check 6055, and Costa Rica 5965, 3350, April 15 at 0505, but no, some music, and from 0506 a Castilian program, `Mundo Solidario`, starting with murders in Ciudad Juárez, and DX host Antonio Buitrago billed as one of the participants later in the hour. So if there is a repeat of ``co-official languages`` benefiting from CR relays, it is at some other time, maybe 0405? But there was no one-hour shift for the original airing. BTW, 9630 CR was already blasting DRM noise as early as 2357 before scheduled *0000-0200*. See also CUBA: collision on 9620 9630, REE via COSTA RICA, VG UT Sat April 16 at 0510 with DX program `Amigos de la Onda Corta` in progress, Antonio Buitrago with program ID, interviewing proprietor of http://www.guiadelaradio.com which is all about domestic radio in Spain: weekly magazine whose issues are linked in html rather than pdf! Also has button for English translation. Weekly publicity about this DX program has been showing time as 0630 Sat, and the other time also wrong as 1330 Sunday instead of 1230, which I have already confirmed. So I sent this to the noticiasdx and other lists: ``Ambas horas citadas para este programa son erróneas! ¿Puede ser que aun Sr. Buitrago no sabe en qué horas transmite su espacio? Desde comienzos de la temporada A-11, escucho la emisión del domingo a las 1230 TU en todas las frecuencias habituales, y no a las 1330. Hoy sábado pude averiguar que la otra emisión está en el aire a las 0505, y no a las 0630! Esto acontece cada vez que se cambian las temporadas. El esquema de programación de REE se renueva sin publicarlo con veracidad. Solo hay que: sintonizar. 73, Guillermo Glenn Hauser`` The 0505 Saturday broadcast was also coming in well, direct from Noblejas on 11890, less well on // 12035 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Esta mañana intenté escuchar la emisión a las 6:30 y ya no estaba, le paso la información al Sr. Antonio Buitrago para que nos lo aclare. Un saludo (José Bueno, April 16, playdx yg via DXLD) 11880 via COSTA RICA, Sunday April 17 at 1233, REE `Amigos de la Onda Corta` has just started, mentioning some Radio Habana Cuba frequencies, one of which does not ring true, if I heard it right, so later at 1520 I try to listen to the latest show via http://programasdx.com/amigosdelaondacorta.htm but it`s still last week`s program --- and the page still shows both wrong times for it. AOC also audible much weaker on the other two CR frequencies, 5970 mixed with YFR via Komsomol`sk/Amure, and 11815 mixed with Japan. At 1251 I come across AOC on better 13720 direct from Noblejas in mailbag segment subtitled ``hemos recibido cartas`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Estimado Glenn: Según información recibida de Antonio Buitrago de REE, los horarios para el programa Amigos de la OC son los siguientes: Sábados: 0505-0530 UT Domingos: 1230-1255 UT Miércoles: 0830-0855 UT En este caso las emisiones quedarían de la siguiente manera: Emisión del SÁBADO 05:05-05:30 UTC Europa: 12.035 kHz – 9.780 DRM Oriente Medio: 11.890 kHz América del Sur: 5.965 kHz América Central: 3.350 kHz América del Norte: 6.055 y 9.630 kHz Emisión del DOMINGO 12:30-12:55 UTC Europa: 13.720 y 15.585 kHz Oriente Medio: 21.610 kHz África Ecuatorial: 21.540 kHz Filipinas. 11.910 (Desde Xian) América del Sur. 11.815 kHz América Central: 5.970 kHz América del Norte: 11.880 kHz Emisión del MIÉRCOLES 08:30-08:55 UTC Europa: 12.035 y 13.720 kHz, 9.780 DRM En caso de producirse algún otro cambio se lo comunicaré. Un saludo (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, April 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hola José no sé a que se refiere en concreto. Según el esquema, Amigos de la Onda Corta se emite el sábado de 0505 a 0530 UT, los domingos de 1230 a 1255 UT, y hay una tercera edición, los miércoles de 0830 a - 0855 UT. Y así los programo y encajo en el cuadrante de programas. Otra cuestión es que en la página web de Radio Exterior de España todavía figura el esquema anterior, que no es achacable a nosotros sino a quienes llevan la página. Se les ha dicho que la cambién, pero todavía no lo han hecho. Si tienes alguna información más detallada te ruego que me lo digas. Recibe un cordial saludo (Antonio Buitrago Molina, April 18, via José Bueno, DXLD) Hello all, I guess it's some kind of error. Radio Exterior España is in English at 2300 UT on 6055. Normally it's French at this time. Strange. After some music, at 2325 UT it was in Spanish, really good mixup. Back in English after multilingual ID at 2330 (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal, Canada, April 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21610, Monday April 18 at 1245, REE in Castilian about the Spanish cinema, also // 21540 at the moment way over konstantly kolliding Kuwait, providing only a SAH. Basque is supposedly scheduled at this hour, but exact timing varies a lot and sometimes does not show at all. By 1442 it`s reversed, Kuwaiti drama in Arabic way over 21540 Spain, providing only a subaudible heterodyne (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Seeking Srilanka --- Now that spring has come to North America the signals from the SLBC have become a regular visitor after 0030 UT. This is a welcome occurrence here; however my problem has been extracting a QSL from them. Each year I send off a report only to wait in vain. Six or seven reports over the last few years have all gone unanswered. I appeal to anyone who may have some inside information that I might use to rectify this situation. Any tips would be most appreciated. 73's (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, MA, April 18, HCDX via DXLD) Believe it or not, an email or letter appeal to their embassy with a copy of the report is sometimes helpful to crack the hard cases. I'm still working a QSL from the Maldives from last year and they are one tough nut to crack (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, ibid.) on R&R from Afghanistan? (gh) It would seem that nothing has changed since the 70s when I logged them on 11835 kHz during one evening here in New Zealand. I'm still waiting for the QSL. On this occasion, towards the end of the broadcast I ended up with a massive heterodyne, after SLBC signed off the station causing the het was audible, it was 4VEH in Haiti in English, I logged them too and thankfully they QSLed. I've never been able to hear them since (Paul, in a rather shaky Christchurch, NZ, ibid.) 11835 is one of the frequencies from the 70ies that I still remember. In late evenings, 4VEH or R. El Espectador from Uruguay were audible here in Central Europe. "The Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon" was on 11800 then; they verified via an address in Bombay, India. vy 73, (Willi Passmann, http://www.radio-portal.org/sdr.html SDR-Special http://www.mwlist.org/mw_logmap.php?la=en Visual Logbook of MWList & TBL, ibid.) You should try using Registered Mail. I think there is a high risk of loss through the postal system in many Asian countries, for parcels that appear to contain valuable items. One amateur op, 4S7NE, who lives near the Colombo airport, recommends this when sending QSL cards. Details at http://www.qrz.com/db/4s7ne I worked vu7nro in 2008 (expedition to Lakshadweep islands) and 2 letters by ordinary air weren't answered, I then sent a card by registered mail, which was answered. The last registered air letter to Asia I sent cost me $10.80 US. In March 2009, my reply from 4s7ne by ordinary air came with a LKR Rs. 50 stamp (now 45 cents USD) and got here in 12 days. I had purchased that stamp from a DX stamp service. 73 (Bob Foxworth, ibid.) Many decades ago they verified by this QSL card: http://www.bruender.de/coll/qc/cln_rcey.jpg (Reijo Alapiha, Joensuu Finland, ibid.) 11750, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp. Ekala. 2011/04/10 sun 1720-1733, Sinhalese, Indian style music. Fair-poor. Local Sunset 1558 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. CLN YFR Ekala in English 1530-1630 UT on 15209.356 kHz very odd signal (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 17, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SUDAN. Radio Omdurman, Al Aitahab transmitter site, 7200 kHz. 0415 UT 04/15/2011, Arabic, 33333, Rambling talk with man in Arabic. Something that sounded like a commercial at 0418. Mention of Sudan at 0422. Transmitter off at 0430. Fair signal with much QRM. S-7 (Nick Rumple, Kannapolis, North Carolina, U.S.A., Yaesu FRG-100, 125 foot longwire 40 feet high running East to West, shortwavelistening yg via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 9670, Miraya FM via IRRS *0300 4/18, sign-on, distinctive music, "Miraya" ID, then woman with news in Arabic, good signal but VOR 9665 splatter (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9670, Miraya, 0359 19 April with a quite poor signal of S5 max and no spurs on 9430 or 10000, struggling in between two stronger Brazilians in nearby frequencies of ca S8-9. Yes, I found the program to be same as in previous day: English news on TOH, a foreign song at 0410+, then talk in Arabic (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 9745, Afia Darfur, 1924+ April 16, with a phone in discussion in Arabic with possibly a doctor S10-20 //11830 S10 again ID on 1908 followed by music At 1929 a carrier starts late with CRI (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 15540, Huryaal 1530 April 16, "huna idaatu Sudan Huryaal" S9 32432, strong QRM from 15545 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 11650, unID (Damal per Eibi and Aoki) 2055 April 16 with HoA songs from the same musical group. Several audio dropouts. Many songs refer to Sudan, most of them quite lengthy. Passes ToH with music. One interesting song was 'Saya ya Afirca i saya', 2120 sign- off. I enjoyed all this program till sign off with pumpkin seeds! [?? gh]. Next day (17) again heard 2123 with the previously mentioned song at the end of the program but sign off before program ID occurred. Eibi shows 1931-2130, 18th on past 1930 was QRMed by a station with German program. 16-17-18th (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [and non]. 13620, April 15 at 0514, R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR, VG signal but with continuous tone underneath. Last night I only caught the end of the broadcast until 0527 and tone until 0529* so supposed it was at tail of AIR Arabic as scheduled 0430-0530, but if the tone is already there at 0514, it`s more likely deliberate jamming from Sudan, rather less effective than the grind and whine on Dabanga`s other frequency, 13730 via UAE. That pulsing amounted to 72 times per minute vs 78 last nite, and this time there were no breaks every 15 seconds. I reconfirmed it is just modulation on a normal carrier which could be zero-beat with BFO, and this time there were traces of Dabanga program audio underneath. 13620, R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR, again April 16 at 0517 ID, and has tone QRM, worst yet, also producing heavy SAH. Seems the pitch of the tone varies a little bit, presumed jamming from Sudan. Dabanga finished at 0527, tone continued a while longer. 13730, Dabanga`s other frequency via UAE, itself unheard, but also again with the completely different jamming, at 0519-0526+; has more of a ringing sound than previous nights, mixed with other oscillating pitches, pulsing timed at the rate of 76 per minute but slightly irregular. 13620, April 17 at 0524 another check of the jammings against R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR: once again the continuous tone from another carrier also producing a subaudible heterodyne; 13730 with oscillating tone and pulsing, quite a bit weaker. Are they aware of this back in Hilversum, and thinking of doing anything about it? 13620, April 18 at 0525, R. Dabanga still jammed with tone on slightly offset carrier so also producing a heavy SAH, 0526 R. Dabanga singing ID and then spoken ID before closing at 0527, MADAGASCAR carrier off at 0527:10* while tone continues. Other Dabanga frequency, 13730 as usual audible only with totally different jamming, ringing and pulsing at rate of about 72 per minute. Due to skip distance factors, quite possibly neither jammer is anywhere near Khartoum, even outside Sudan by a coöperative, sinister ally of Omar al-Bashir. 13620 and 13730, R. Dabanga, still the same story as the last several nights, about the radically different forms of jamming, altho not checked until RD was finished, April 19 at 0529, the jamming still going (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Madagascar, 11500, Radio Dabanga. // 13730. 2011/04/09 sat 1655-1718, ID / jingle at 1700 "Radio Dabanga". Poor. Rapid and deep fading, with a het. Local Sunset 1559. Germany, 13730, Radio Dabanga. Wertachtal // 11500. 2011/04/09 sat 1632-1718, ID at 1637 & 1700 "Radio Dabanga". Language ?? Talk about Darfur & Sudan. Good, deteriorated after 1700. Local Sunset 1559 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No jamming on evening broadcasts? (gh, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. New schedule of Sudan Radio Service from April 11: 0400-0500 13720 DHA 250 kW / 245 deg to EaAf Arabic 0500-0530 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Arabic Sat/Sun, ex Daily 0530-0600 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf English Sat/Sun, ex Daily 1500-1530 17745 SIN 250 kW / 114 deg to EaAf English 1530-1700 17745 SIN 250 kW / 114 deg to EaAf Arabic 1700-1730 9590 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Various*Mon-Fri 1700-1730 9590 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Arabic Sat/Sun, deleted 1730-1800 9590 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf English Mon-Fri, ex Daily *Dinka Mon; Zande Tue; Moru Wed; Bari Thu; Shiluk Fri (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 18 April via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 3200, Trans World R relay. Manzini. 2011/04/12 tue 1647- 1658* Language?? ID at 1658*. Good. Local Sunset 1556. 3200, Trans World R relay. Manzini. 2011/04/12 tue *1701 1908 English. African pastor with a "Great Bible Reading" from "Nehemiah". South African postal address at 1729, "God Bess You". Various preachers throughout the evening. Good. Weak co-channel interference from unidentified station, sounded like another TWR transmission but not // 3200. Local Sunset 1556 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [and non]. News about Hoerby --- Hello! I got some news about Hörby SW. The transmitters are now being dismantled since a week ago. The dismantling will take about two months. RNW has bought the transmitters and they will live for another 5-6 years in Madagascar. I feel pleased and sad at the same time (/Chris Stödberg, Sweden, April 18, shortwavesites yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) Christian: How many SW transmitters were at the Hörby site when it closed? Are these the 3 ABB 500kW ones or are there others as well? (Colin Miller, Canada, ibid.) Hi Colin! Just three ABB/Thalès 500 kW transmitters. They were installed 1993. The mediumwave at Hörby was closed down and scrapped 1985 after almost 40 years in service. (/Chris, ibid.) ** SYRIA [and non]. 9330, 2143, Damascus in English, fair, improving in LSB mode only, 27/3, due WBCQ on 9330.8. At 2158 “You’re listening to Damascus Radio” then news headlines. Transmitter off 2200 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, April NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) And WBCQ mostly on USB only (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 6280, 16.4 2200, Sound of Hope, Tanshui, according to schedule only (local) Friday/Sunday. No Firedrake jamming but only fair signals (Ullmar Qvick, Norrköping, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17 via DXLD) [non?]. From 1323 to 1331 April 18 found Sound of Hope in the clear on 10300 with almost fair reception (monologue in Chinese). These SOH receptions in the clear are becoming more prevalent, as Glenn and I have both recently observed. In past years Firedrake jamming only took a 5 minute break at the ToH that was strictly adhered to. Now there is no regular scheduling as to when they will start up again after the ToH. It also seems that SOH is now employing more powerful transmitters than ever before on many of their frequencies (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see CHINA [and non] for lots more on Firedrake ** TAIWAN. odd 6144.080, RTI Taipei and accompanied Chinese jammer on nominal 6145 kHz, as well as 900 Hertz hefty heterodyne noted 1645 UT April 18. R. TAIWAN INT. at 1400-1800 UT, Chinese 100 kW 267deg CBSM a11 // 6075, according Aoki list. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11714.89, R. Taiwan International. Heard in English from 1126-1158. English ID with sked at 1158. Difficult copy at first but gradually got better. (15 April) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA’S BIRTHDAY THROUGH PAINTINGS! 100 ARTISTS Get your brushes ready – Radio Taiwan International invites foreign nationals to celebrate the Republic of China’s birthday through paintings! 100 artists’ submissions will be selected by professional judges to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China (the official name of Taiwan’s government). The selected pieces will be shown off to the world in a digital gallery on the event’s website, and exhibited publicly in an outdoor projection exhibit in October to coincide with the nation’s centennial. First, second, and third place winners will each receive a 7-day, 6- night food and accommodation package upon arriving in Taiwan! (From October 5 to 11, 2011; cost of plane tickets and visa fees not included.). . . More information: http://www.rti.org.tw/ajax/2011/2011_blessing/en/ (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 9774, Fu Hsing BS, 0918-1000*, April 15. In Chinese; EZL pop songs; 0925-0952 program of western classical music (nice!); 0955 last announcement then instrumental music till off; best in LSB; // 9410; both fair and certainly one of their better receptions for both frequencies (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TANNU TUVA [and non]. **RUSSIA /TANNU TUVA**. 6100.00, R Rossii, Kyzyl, 2257, April 18, Russian surfaced after co-channel CRI Chinese had closed. In the clear now except for accompanying buzz which may have been KCBS very slightly off freq. 2300 Russian 10-minute news after Rossii ID // 6085 Krasnoyarsk which carried local programming after 2310; not sure if Kyzyl did too (cf. Eibi listing)? Then into nondescript Russian talk eventually mixing with CRI back on in Sinhalese 2330. Tune-out at 2332. DBS-12 has this on 6100.5 but was definitely on freq today. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. 15110, April 15 at 0346 open carrier, somewhat less flutter than Saudi 15170; still OC past 0400. Next check 0416 YL in Russian, lo-fi and muffled. Turning on carrier that early is SOP for Tatarstan Wave, A-11 scheduled 0410-0500, 250 kW, 60 degrees from Samara to Far East, per DX-Mix News (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Website of GTRK Tatarstan: http://trt-tv.ru/index.php?page=94 "Tatarstan dulkynynda" - "On the wave of Tatarstan" Daily on shortwave: 08.10 - within the range 11665 kHz, 10.10 - 9690 kHz, 12.10 - 11925 kHz are broadcast transmission "Tatarstan dulkynynda" - "On the wave of Tatarstan". Through a transmitter in Samara, the program is transmitted to the regions of the Russian Federation. The target audience in the regions is the Tatar Diaspora. It will be in 2 languages - Tatar and Russian. The program tells about the main events in the life of the Republic of Tatarstan. Much attention is paid to the preservation and development of language, culture and traditions of the Tatars, the work of youth in promoting the revival of Tatar culture. Every day from 12.00 to 13.00 in the ether of information and analytical program on the history, traditions of the Tatar people: "Tatarstan dulkynyda - On the wave of Tatarstan" in the direction of Siberia and the [Russian] Far East from 08.00 to 9.00 on the SW 15105 kHz (20m); in the direction of Tyumen and Ural from 10.00 to 11.00 on the HF 15105 kHz (20m); in the direction of Moscow and St. Petersburg from 12.00 to 13.00 on the HF 11915 kHz (25m). The program aims to get connect to the Tatar nationals outside of Tatarstan. Also program sequences in Russian are broadcast because many of the Tatars in the diaspora speak mainly or exclusively Russian language (via BC-DX April 20 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 8743-USB, Bangkok Meteorological Radio, Bangkok, 1045- 1055, April 17, Thai, broadcasts Thailand maritime weather information by male and female, interval signal, 2.4.4.4.2. Not heard on 6765.1 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. TAJIKISTAN, 15557, tentative V of Tibet, 1220 UT, O=3. 1230 UT, der Feuerdrache versucht auf 15550 kHz das Signal zu stoeren. [til 1230 UT] (Ralf Ladusch, Germany, A-DX Apr 19 via BC-DX April 20 via DXLD) V of Tibet, Dushanbe Yangiyul, S=8 signal in Nagoya JPN at 1235 UT, but now down on 15537.000 kHz, music jamming on 15540 nearby. 1230- 1300 UT. Also logged recently on odd 15527, 15537, 15547, 15552, 15558, 15562, 15582 kHz channels, to avoid a little bit China mainland jamming against VoTibet broadcasts (Wolfgang Büschel, April 19, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 20 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Re WORLD OF RADIO 1560: Gestern war die störende Aussendung auf 10110 kHz wieder in der Zeit von 1830-1930 UT auf 10110 kHz zoa. Eine Recherche im Internet unter dem "Ankara A-11 schedule" von Wolfgang Büschel gibt Infos über die Sendezeiten von TRT Ankara: 9785 kHz: 1830-1930 UTC Sprache: Englisch 9460 kHz: 1600-2100 UTC Sprache: Türkisch Mit diesen Sendern wäre eine IKM möglich: 2 x 9785 - 9460 = 10110 kHz Da die 9460 kHz in der IKM-Bildung nur einfach vertreten ist muss dessen Signalkomponente in der IKM stärker vertreten sein. Dies würde bestätigen, dass man die Türkische Sprache mit QSA4 und die zweite Sprache nur mit QSA1 in der IKM empfängt. Report from Uli DJ9KR - IARU bandwatch monitoring, and German State Frequ Control BNetzA TURKEY, Intermodulations 10110 and 14210 kHz, Emirler bc-center. Apr 13 TRT Ankara 1830-1927 UT 10110 kHz very strong again. Fundamentals 9460 and 9785 kHz, on 10110 Turkish sce modulated. In background underneath very tiny programm in English language. Programme: 10110: Turkish powerful, English tiny, but 100% x-checked 9460: Turkish powerful 9785: English most powerful. Vielen Dank ebenfalls an Wolf DF5SX für die Lieferung des "Strickmusters" der IM auf 10100 kHz! *** 9785 x 2 - 9460 = 10110 kHz PS 1730-1827 UT: *** 2 x 11835 - 9460 = 14210 kHz 9460 1600-2100 EMR 500 310 TURKISH EUR 11835 1730-1830 EMR 500 310 GERMAN EUR (Wolfgang Büschel, harmonics yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) TRT Ankara with language lesson in English(!) heard on both 9785.005 and 11690.040 kHz at 1845 UT April 17. Latter is registered for Arabic to the Muslim world instead. 1830-1930 UT scheduled. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. 5015, 2325-2335 12+13.04, Türkmen R, Asgabat, Turkmen ann, Turkmen folkmusic, only audible in LSB! 35333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** UGANDA. 4749,994 14.4 2010 Dunamis Shortwave med c/d vid denna tid. 4749.994, 14.4 2010, Dunamis Shortwave with close/down at this time (Anders Hultqvist, Dalarö, (Stockholm Archipelago), Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4749.994, 16.4 1904*, Dunamis Shortwave very strong with talk and music. Just when I started a Perseus recording, they signed off in the middle of the music! This can be read at their website: “God has heard the cry of his Ugandan people and has answered by means of shortwave radio. Dunamis Shortwave was constructed in 2006 and has been on the air spreading God’s message of hope, healing and love to these precious people. Listeners from Central Uganda to Southern Sudan are responding to the Lord’s message writing into the station to share their stories of encouragement and healing. Do you feel the Lord calling you to reach His children in the “Pearl of Africa”? If so please contact our office.” TN (Thomas Nilsson, SW Bulletin April 17 via DXLD) Good conditions tonight April 14. Dunamis Shortwave (presumed) from tune in at 1928 UT till s/off at 1943 with surprisingly strong signal. Nonstop African style and Christian music without any announcement or ID, sudden s/off. If it was really them, I never heard them so strong before. Still 1 kW? While I was writing this tip for the list they switched off the transmitter, so I was a bit too late :- (73, Harald Kuhl via DXPlorer, via SW Bulletin April 17 via DXLD) ** U K. Re 11-15: BBC World Service 'should not be cut' The problem is, every other entity that receives government funding is going to make similar arguments about how valuable its service is. This doesn't escape the fact that the British government (and governments everywhere) are running huge budget deficits, and cuts have to be made. There is not an endless pile of money to work with. Anyone been following the debt crisis in Greece/Ireland/Portugal? And other countries are in the same boat. The days of extensive international services on multiple frequencies to all parts of the world are over. Careful consideration must be made to what is really needed and what works best for those needs. (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, April 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not to make this political, but isn't a discussion of priorities germane to any consideration of budgeting? It's also reasonable to question whether all of the remedy for debt needs to be found solely in cuts. Enhancing revenue could be part of the picture as well if an examination of priorities calls for it. Otherwise, we're just making decisions on faith or ideology, rather than reason or logic. Sent from my iPhone (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Wasn't trying to make it a political discussion, which can be hashed out in other forums. However government budget issues are intertwined with shortwave broadcasting; I guess you could call it the "business of shortwave." So a debate about shortwave funding is appropriate. And that's where those priorities come in. With the BBCWS budget, you have to convince the British taxpayers that providing a free radio service for people living outside the country is more important than maintaining the current level of public health care, education, and other social benefits provided by the government. And this is a British public that is forced to pay license fees for their own domestic BBC services. Convince them that they should also give those services to an audience that doesn't pay for them. Don't get me wrong: There are certain areas of the world where shortwave is still needed, due to lack of more modern alternatives, or government repression/censorship of those alternatives. But there are many other areas where high-tech platforms are widely available and embraced, and shortwave distribution is a waste of money given the tiny to nonexistent audiences. For instance, from a budgeting standpoint, I'm not sure why any broadcaster -- ANY broadcaster -- bothers to beam anything to North America these days. And "enhancing revenue" tends to be a euphemism for raising taxes. The tax burden in many countries is already high. Huge budget deficits, and the servicing of the loans that pay for those shortfalls, is causing major financial grief. Priorities have to be set, and unfortunately shortwave is far down the list. Should shortwave broadcasters think about other revenue streams such as adding advertising? Soliciting direct fund donations from listeners, such as is done with Public Radio in the U.S.? Or perhaps more of the brokered time model, which keeps a lot of religious stations on the air? I've been an SWL since the mid-1960's, and have seen a lot of changes in the medium. Now that I am older (and hopefully wiser) I have a greater knowledge and appreciation of the costs involved for international broadcasters. Years ago there were fewer demands on government budgets, and few technological alternatives. Things have changed, and hard choices have to be made. Keep shortwave where it is absolutely needed, but cut it where it is not (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, April 15, ibid.) ** U K [and non]. Re: Some pushback for BBC World Service cuts in the press Re: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=427950&version=1&template_id=38&parent_id=20 It is interesting to read comments about how the cut backs could "damage Britain’s global standing" and how 30 million listeners out of a 180 million strong global audience would be affected if they also go ahead with the planned closing of some language services. Previous cut backs in the BBC's World Service budget have already affected the BBC's standing with (former) listeners in North America and some other developed parts of the world. I don't know if it was felt that Britain's standing was affected by the earlier cut backs or how they adjusted the size of their listening audience. I know I no longer count myself as a BBC listener since they stopped broadcasting to my part of the world. I regularly listen to some music only based Internet radio stations but I rarely if ever listen to any international broadcasters via the Internet. If I'm at my computer I'm usually working on something and would not be able to pay attention to any voiced based programs from the stations (Kevin Cozens, ve3syb, April 14, ODXA yg via DXLD) If I recall correctly the English language audience size was 150 million when they switched off shortwave to the USA / Canada / ANZ in 2001. The arguments at the time were strictly financial -- they knew they'd lose listeners who had no other means (or a less convenient means) of listening to the WS, but they felt -- even *before* switching off the transmitters targeting here -- that audibility in North America was not up to their standards -- i.e. it was already harder to hear the WS here than in their other target regions, and they'd need to add / improve shortwave transmissions to reach here effectively. They did the math and determined the audience gain (or avoided loss) wasn't worth the $$. They also felt that the kind of North American audience they wanted to reach had these alternative methods available to them. That was one aspect of their rationale that many North American shortwave enthusiasts took offense to -- that North American shortwave listeners weren't worth the BBC's effort...that we weren't the kind of people they wanted to reach. If I recall, the phrase they used for their desirable North American audience was "thought leaders and opinion formers." What disappointed me then was that no radio manufacturer or specialist seller seemed to care that the BBC was stopping these broadcasts; I would have thought that these folks would have protested loudly and publicly as a loss of shortwave programming would likely lead to smaller demand for radios. It was only the listener community that made much of a stink...as well as Larry Magne of Passport. He contributed and read an opinion piece on NPR's Morning Edition at the time (June 2001). Radio Netherlands capitalized on this in 2001 by renting the transmitters that the BBC had been using from VT Merlin (now Babcock) as of July 1st and airing RNW programming. That catalyzed an English language broadcast to North America which remained in place for roughly 6 or 7 years. Radio Netherlands came to the same conclusion as the BBC 8 years later (if I have my years correct) -- that relatively few North American RNW English language listeners did *not* have other platforms available to them other than shortwave, and that many folks who listened via shortwave already used multiple platforms and were willing to change habits if necessary. Again it was a financially- motivated decision. To RNW's credit (at least I hope Andy gives me credit...) the use of these other platforms had grown considerably between 2001 and 2009, so a lot fewer folks were inconvenienced by RNW leaving shortwave. And besides, RNW felt that its services via shortwave would have more global impact in those parts of the world without access to diverse, uncensored media --- particularly Africa. It was so much easier when there was a Cold War going on! RC (Richard Cuff, PA, ibid.) BBC STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT Date: 13.04.2011 Category: World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/04_april/13/fac.shtml The BBC today issued the following statement: The BBC welcomes the FAC's strong support for the World Service and the value it brings in promoting British values and providing a widely respected and trusted news service. It is of course for the Government and Parliament to decide on the priorities for public spending. The cuts being made to the World Service are a consequence of last autumn's Spending Review and the BBC regrets the scale and pace of cuts that have been necessary. If, in the light of the FAC report, the Government is prepared to re-open aspects of the Spending Review settlement the BBC will be pleased to engage with them constructively. We look forward to the Government's response to the Committee's recommendations. The BBC is committed to the long-term future of the World Service and hopes to reinvest when responsibility for funding transfers to the licence fee in 2014. BBC Press Office (via Mike Terry, April 14, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. Re 11-15: BBC reviving Chinese radio?! > From April 18 BBC in Chinese again on SW: Very remarkable. How this sudden change of mind, provided that it will indeed happen (so far it's not more than a HFCC update from the transmission provider I suspect)? And what about Dari, Pashtu and Persian to Europe, still carried 1400- 1700 via Skelton on 6195? From which budget is this transmission paid, what are its purpose and target audience? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If the info is correct, I doubt that it means overall transmitter hours are being increased. Adding transmissions in one area probably means reducing them in others. The money issues haven't gone away. (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, April 15, ibid.) There is one more point: Program production. I understand that at the end of March all Chinese-language radio production ceased, unlike the case of Russian where reportedly some podcasts are being kept. So it are not just the transmitter hours, there will be additional costs as well if this turns out to be true, for which, as mentioned, I still have some doubts as long as there are not more than HFCC filings. Some insider informations about these possible developments would certainly be more interesting than the BBC saying this and members of parliament saying that (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** U K [non]. Frequency changes of BBC from April 11: 1400-1500 NF 7565 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg, ex 7600 in Hindi 1500-1545 NF 7565 NAK 250 kW / 305 deg, ex 7600 in Urdu From April 18 BBC in Chinese again on SW: 1300-1530 on 6095 KIM 250 kW / 290 deg 9605 NAK 250 kW / 020 deg 11920 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg 15285 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg 2200-2300 on 7325 SLA 250 kW / 063 deg 9580 KIM 250 kW / 285 deg 9610 NAK 250 kW / 020 deg 9855 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 11795 SNG 250 kW / 013 deg 11980 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg Additional SW transmissions of BBC in Hindi from April 18: 0100-0130 on 6065 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 9425 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 11995 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg 13745 TAC 200 kW / 131 deg 15510 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg 0230-0300 on 11995 SLA 250 kW / 100 deg 15660 NAK 250 kW / 305 deg 17510 NAK 250 kW / 300 deg 17655 NVS 250 kW / 195 deg 1700-1730 on 5910 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg but really not active at 1720! 7460 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg but really not active at 1720! 9605 CYP 250 kW / 090 deg but really not active at 1720! 11740 NAK 250 kW / 275 deg but really not active at 1720! (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 18 April via DXLD) Planned additional transmissions of BBC in Mandarin Chinese and Hindi on SW have been moved to May 1 (ex April 18) Mandarin Chinese 1300-1530 on 6095 KIM 250 kW / 290 deg 9605 NAK 250 kW / 020 deg 11920 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg 15285 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg 2200-2300 on 7325 SLA 250 kW / 063 deg 9580 KIM 250 kW / 285 deg 9610 NAK 250 kW / 020 deg 9855 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 11795 SNG 250 kW / 013 deg 11980 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg Hindi 0100-0130 on 6065 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 9425 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 11995 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg 13745 TAC 200 kW / 131 deg 15510 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg 0230-0300 on 11995 SLA 250 kW / 100 deg 15660 NAK 250 kW / 305 deg 17510 NAK 250 kW / 300 deg 17655 NVS 250 kW / 195 deg 1700-1730 on 5910 SLA 250 kW / 060 deg 7460 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg 9605 CYP 250 kW / 090 deg 11740 NAK 250 kW / 275 deg Hindi, currently schedule on SW 1400-1500 on 7565 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg 9685 NAK 250 kW / 275 deg 9685 SLA 250 kW / 063 deg 11795 SNG 250 kW / 340 deg 15470 CYP 250 kW / 097 deg 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC Bangla wrong time announcements at the start of their shortwave transmission were finally corrected after 16 months !!! The mix up had started on 1st January 2010, the day Bangladesh scrapped its daylight savings time which was UT + 7 and went back to UT + 6. BBC Bangla, however, continued announcing before the first transmission as "7 o`clock in Bangladesh, 5 o clock in India and 1130 pm GMT". Similar jumbled up announcements appeared before three other daily transmissions. When it continued into the A11 frequency season, I sent them an email of audio clipping on 6th April 2011. The error was corrected a few days later. I wonder how could this gross error of BBC announcing the wrong GMT for 16 months get past their monitors, in case any such monitoring exist at all? I guess this is what happens to a colonial era broadcaster whose editorial office has been shifted from London to its former colony Dhaka, frequency management of the relay stations outsourced and monitoring services downgraded. My recording of this mixed up audio clippings will make an interesting DX memorabilia (Supratik Sanatani, India, April 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. 9760, 16/4 1157 "Babcock DRM", in DRM mode, no audio, only the DREAM label. Transmitter in UK according to the label. What service? (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Re 11-15: ``I'm pleased to read that Radio Player works well in the US. As well as live radio ..." Glenn, The Beeb has gone through so many switches, ditches, and other turgid rigmaroles when it comes to delivering on-line content, this, for me, is the last straw. As far as I'm concerned, the need to go to more trouble "registering" and have yet another piece of invasive, cookie-tracking software on my machine is not worth it. Any station that can't use existing widely used methods and media to stream their broadcasts over the Net is anathema to me; I'm switching to DW, where, at least, the staff seems to know how to keep it simple. "The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." (Lin Robertson/KJ6EF, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. EBU Day - Music For Holy Week --- I was aware of the special day of EBU (European Broadcasting Union) programming for Christmas, usually on the Sunday before Christmas, only because it is/was carried on CBC Radio 2 in Canada. Today while poking around the BBC Radio 3 website, I discovered there is a similar program for Holy Week. It is live as I post this, and will be available for 7 days in the archive. 2 segments can be heard, each 4 hours in length (Fred Waterer, Ont., If it ain't Baroque don't fix it, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0106z8t Radio 3 makes its annual journey around the European Broadcasting Union countries to celebrate music for Holy Week. This year begins with a concert from the historic Basilica in Montserrat, Spain, for choral and organ music from the 16th to the 18th centuries, along with a contemporary premiere by Bernat Vivancos. This is followed by a live performance from the Concertgebouw in Amserdam of Bach's mighty St. John Passion. Then on the other side of the world in Sydney, the old and the new are combined in a concert including Arvo Part's Berlin Mass. Belgium's contribution is a rare chance to hear Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu, before we join our own BBC Singers in London for a concert of English Choral music, including a premiere by Francis Pott. Presented by Louise Fryer. . . . (via Fred Waterer, April 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There they go again, dubbing certain classical music worx ``mighty``. Stand by for more of that during The Proms (gh, DXLD) ** U K. WILLIAM ARTHUR PHILIP LOUIS WEDDING ON SHORTWAVE? Does anyone out here know if William's wedding is going to be on Shortwave? If so, who is covering it and which freqs? Thanks for any info (Dan Hensley, KC9NCF, April 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here`s the official BBCWS info, but surely you did not expect them to bother with such insignificant details as frequencies! (Glenn, ibid.) Seems that attitudes on this event vary all over the map...so I'll post this link without comment. Here are details for BBC World Service coverage of the Royal Wedding on the 29th: http://newsonnews.net/bbc/8187-bbc-world-news-and-world-service-announce-royal-wedding-coverage-details.html or http://bit.ly/fgsnEJ (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ODXA yg via DXLD) It'll be on the BBC WS from 0855-1300 and highlights from 1605-1700 which is 0255-0700 and 1005-1100 your local time. It will be on whichever WS frequencies you might be able to hear at those times. Try these 0800-0900 6190af 11760me 12095af 15310as 15400af 15575as 17640af 17790as 17830af 21470af 0900-1000 6190af 6195as 9740as 11760me 12095af 15310as 15400af 15575as 17640af 17760as 17790as 17830af 21470af 21630as 1000-1100 6190af 6195as 9740as 11760me 12095af 15310as 15400af 15575as 17640af 17760as 17790as 21470af 21660as 1100-1200 6140as 6195as 9740as 11760me 12095af 15285as 15310as 15400af 15575as 17640af 17760as 17790as 17830af 21470af 1200-1300 5875as 6140as 6190af 6195as 9740as 11750as 11760me 12095af 15310as 15575as 17640af 17830af 21470af 1600-1700 3255af 5845as 5975as 6190af 9495as 12095as 13820as 15400af 15420af 17640af 17795af 17830af 21470af Judging by comments made here previously about reception of BBC WS in the USA you will be lucky to hear anything. Good luck! Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England UK, ibid.) Tnx, but his local time in Chicago is not UT -6 but UT -5. Or, I think I saw a promo on such major US TV network (NBC?) that they would be covering it live. Probably several. Once again, the Brits are extremely inconsiderate of their American royalfans in scheduling this so early in our morning (Glenn, ibid.) I think the "scheduling for US fans" doesn`t even enter into the equation. It is a "British" event, by, and for, British people. (Keith, UK, ibid.) ?? By all accounts, the British are rather contemptuous of their royals, and only put up with them because they are such a valuable tourist draw from e.g. ``America`` (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. DAVID ENSOR TO SERVE AS DIRECTOR OF VOICE OF AMERICA The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has selected award-winning broadcaster and communications executive David Ensor to serve as the next director of the Voice of America (VOA). VOA reaches an audience of 123 million people with unbiased news and information in 44 languages across multiple media platforms. “The democracy uprisings of the past two months have shown the critical importance of the free flow of credible information in empowering people around the world. The Voice of America has been pursuing this mission for seventy years by providing great journalism and a clear presentation of America and its policies,” said Walter Isaacson, Chairman of the BBG which oversees all U.S. international broadcasting including the VOA. “David Ensor is uniquely suited to lead VOA in fulfilling this dual mission. We are deeply honored that he would continue to be of service to journalism and to his country by following in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow and John Chancellor.” Ensor has been Director for Communications and Public Diplomacy of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan since January 2010 and will join VOA in June. “David Ensor’s unique experiences and skills make him a solid fit for this role,” said Judith A. McHale, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, who serves as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s representative to the BBG, and who oversaw Ensor’s work in Afghanistan. “The State Department has been very fortunate to have David oversee our public diplomacy effort in Afghanistan, and we wish him well as he prepares to take the lead at VOA.” Ensor is a winner of a National Headliner Award and an Emmy-nominated broadcast journalist whose 32-year career in television and radio news included extensive reporting on international affairs. Ensor covered the demise of Communism in Russia and Poland, armed conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya, El Salvador, and Afghanistan, and the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. He was CNN’s National Security Correspondent and prior to that, an ABC News correspondent, with assignments in Washington, Moscow, Rome, and Warsaw. Ensor reported from Washington for National Public Radio covering foreign policy and defense issues. In welcoming David Ensor, the BBG thanked retiring VOA Director Danforth Austin for his outstanding leadership. The Board recognized Austin’s role in improving VOA's ability to engage with and grow audiences across multiple media platforms, integrating broadcast, online and social media while remaining steadfast to the principles of sound journalism enshrined in the VOA charter. Appointed to the post in October 2006, Austin has been one of the longest serving VOA directors. Ensor is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations and is fluent in French. He received a B.A. with honors from the University of California, Berkeley. Ensor holds the Knight’s Cross awarded by the President of Poland (BBG Press Release via Clara Listensprechen; Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, Hansjoerg Biener, Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) VOA update: http://www.radio-info.com/news/new-director-of-voa-voice-of-america-is-david-ensor (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Portrait: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/files/2011/04/ensor.jpg (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. THE VOA IS LOSING ITS VOICE By L. GORDON CROVITZ, Wall Street Journal, Monday, April 18, 2011 Hillary Clinton: 'We are in an information war, and we are losing.' China's state news agency, Xinhua, is building a broadcasting headquarters in New York's Times Square as part of Beijing's $7 billion investment in global propaganda, including a 24-hour news channel in English. Meanwhile, Congress recently held hearings on a plan for Voice of America to cut its Chinese- language news broadcasts in order to save $8 million a year. If public diplomacy helps determine which countries are on the way up and which are on the way down, U.S. actions speak louder than the broadcasts themselves. "We are in an information war, and we are losing that war," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to Congress last month. That's the predictable result of unilateral disarmament. As China, Russia and Islamist groups have accelerated their efforts, America has been withdrawing. Reductions in VOA, including an end to Arabic-language programming in the Middle East, are especially dismaying given the leading role the broadcaster played in winning the Cold War against earlier information- suppressing ideologies. According to research commissioned by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees VOA and other government-sponsored international broadcasters, 12% of Chinese are aware of the VOA, more than the BBC, CNN and Radio Free Asia (another U.S. government service) combined. On a recent VOA Chinese-language show about the planned cuts in service, a caller from Gansu province suggested that Chinese listeners would be happy to donate to keep the broadcasts going. In contrast to the U.S., where Chinese state-run CCTV already airs on many U.S. cable systems, Beijing jams VOA radio broadcasts, allows just two VOA correspondents in Beijing, and refuses to let the service open a bureau in Shanghai. The VOA plan would eliminate the Cantonese-speaking reporting staff entirely, ending programming for the 60 million people who speak the language in southern China. Half the Mandarin-speaking reporters would also be cut. VOA says it plans to step up its presence online instead of on radio. But China is also the world leader in censoring the Internet. The proposed VOA cuts come as China is conducting its harshest crackdown on critics since Tiananmen Square. Hardliners reacted to the anti-authoritarian revolts in the Middle East by reinforcing the Great Firewall and arresting more than 100 activists and bloggers. To its credit, VOA is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that has dared to use circumvention technologies, which allow access to the open Web. It has invested in software from services including Freegate and Ultrareach, and it includes icons on its websites around the world called "Getting Around Internet Blockage." These let people listen to VOA broadcasts and also then use their connections to surf the free Internet. Dan Austin, the director of VOA, told me last week that more than one million Chinese a month are using VOA's link to circumvention software in order to jump over China's firewall. Almost two million Iranians use these VOA circumvention tools. By some estimates, with modest new funding, VOA could help 50 million more people get access to the open Web. U.S. broadcasters recently sought bids from technology companies to push text messages into closed countries. So far, VOA is managing this circumvention with less than $2 million. The State Department has dragged its feet in spending $30 million that Congress appropriated for circumvention tools. A Freedom House report issued last week, "Leaping Over the Firewall," provides a Consumer Reports-like set of product reviews of 11 different circumvention tools and surveys of users in Iran, Azerbaijan, China and Burma. It says some services are easier to use and others are more secure, but many work well to defeat censoring regimes. Some of the dysfunction in State Department priorities is structural. VOA and the other broadcasting services were independently run by the U.S. Information Agency from the 1950s until the early 1990s, when for the brief "end of history" moment after the Cold War it seemed these efforts were no longer as important. USIA was disbanded, but the diplomats of the State Department have little interest in upsetting other countries by defending broadcasting or circumvention efforts. A focus on the Web for VOA, especially reinforced with circumvention tools, makes some sense, but it's wrong to think that new media completely replace what came before. The Web is important, but radio remains an essential medium in China, where most people still don't have access even to the censored Web. Firing the journalists who create the content in languages like Mandarin undermines both Web and radio efforts. "The Chinese people are our greatest allies, and the free flow of information is our greatest weapon," says Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R., Calif.). This is a simple but persuasive argument for restoring planned cuts to VOA and re- engaging in the information war. Gordon Crovitz is a media and information industry advisor and executive, including former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, executive vice president of Dow Jones and president of its Consumer Media Group. He has been active in digital media since the early 1990s, overseeing the growth of The Wall Street Journal Online to more than one million paying subscribers, making WSJ.com the largest paid news site on the Web. He launched the Factiva business-search service and led the acquisition for Dow Jones of the MarketWatch Web site, VentureOne database, Private Equity Analyst newsletter and online news services VentureWire (Silicon Valley), e-Financial News (London) and VWD (Frankfurt). He is co-founder of Journalism Online, a member of the board of directors of ProQuest and Blurb and is on the board of advisors of several early-stage companies, including SocialMedian (sold to XING), UpCompany, Halogen Guides, YouNoodle, Peer39, SkyGrid, ExpertCEO and Clickability. He is an investor in Betaworks, a New York incubator for startups, and in Business Insider. Earlier in his career, Gordon wrote the "Rule of Law" column for the Journal and won several awards including the Gerald Loeb Award for business commentary. He was editor and publisher of the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong and editorial-page editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels. He graduated from the University of Chicago and has law degrees from Wadham College, Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes scholar, and Yale Law School (via Joe Buch, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Radio is not an especially popular medium in China. Only about 13% of households have radios, compared to about 100% with television sets. Nevertheless, a combination of internet and shortwave radio is still the best way to get information into China. The fundamental flaw of US international broadcasting is that its resources are divided among competing, overlapping entities. VOA will be deprived of shortwave. Radio Free Asia will have both shortwave and internet, but does not cover world and US news. The structure of US international broadcasting does not allow for a single station that has all the ingredients necessary for success. kae ** U S A. 48 YEARS OLD AND STILL A FLAMETHROWER by James E. O'Neal, 04.20.2011 GREENVILLE, N.C. — Radio World toured VOA’s Greenville, N.C., facility recently. Photos from our visit are shown here. Few would dispute that there has been a marked decline in shortwave broadcasting listenership since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Many former large-scale international broadcasters have cut schedules sharply, or have ended HF radio transmissions altogether. . . http://www.rwonline.com/article/119514 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 15580, after hearing VOA English a few times in the 05-06 hour, lately attributed to BOTSWANA, no sign of it UT Sat April 16 at 0524, when 19m had various other signals including Nigeria 15120 with CCI. Has VOA moved again? Or M-F only? Latest HFCC for IBB http://hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A11&broadc=IBB still shows 15580 as 05-07 daily from Moepeng Hill since April 8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change for Voice of America in French from April 22: 1830-1930 NF 17530 SAO 100 kW / 138 deg, ex 17560 1930-2030 NF 17530 BON 250 kW / 090 deg, ex 17560 to avoid Radio Havana Cuba in French/Portuguese 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Apr 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA Frequency change of VOA [sic] Arabic "Radio Sawa" from tomorrow April 20: 0800-1300 NF 15780 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg, ex 15775 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, April 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9385, April 16 at 1301 instead of Brother Scare`s Sabbath on WWRB, flutish music, Farsi announcement mentioning ``Irani``, then plucked string music, adding tabla and from 1306 male vocal. Wonderful dreamy, trance-like music; 1317 other ME music, slow tempo with YL singer, a world apart from Martha Garvin belting out Jesus tunes on 7490. 9385 remained with music-only, no announcements until 1350. Since WWRB doesn`t always make the switch from 3185 by 1300, at first I wondered if it was something else, but nothing else is scheduled on 9385 between 12 and 21, and this big signal has to be WWRB. Anyhow, nothing audible on 3185 which probably would not be propagating this late. I posted these notices to the dxldyg without delay: ``WWRB 9385 is relaying Persian Radio out of Los Angeles, instead of Brother Scare. Great music without interruption April 16 1300-1350, then adstring, 1400+ news and talk. Still going at 1423. Presumably plugged into wrong satellite feed. Much more detail in my upcoming log report. 9385 is // and only about a second apart from this webfeed: http://www.epersianradio.com/ Perhaps on Lyngsat we can find adjacent or similarly-numbered satellite channels to Brother Scare. At 1400-1434+ they are in turn relaying Kol Israel`s Persian broadcast! Which should also be direct on 11595 and 13850, unchecked here yet. Yes! Both Persian Radio and The Overcomer are on Galaxy 19, Transponder 14, 11966H: http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy19.html Glenn`` BS was heard as usual on WWCR 9980. 9385 is at S9+22. After all that music it`s time to bombard us with commercials from 1350: ``Yih Sedaye Persian Radio``, ads with phone numbers including 011+ pronounced in English, rest of the number in Persian. 1352 ad with Carmina Burana theme music, 1354 double-trips, or Double Tree? 1355 pharmacy; 1356 India Gate; Design Center, InfoServices, Los Angeles; 1358 mentioned ``hash tag`` for which there is apparently no Persian term. 1359 Renaissance Catering. Tho there are English names and terms mixed in, it`s all in Persian, except mention of ``International Music Foundation, non-profit foundation``, also heard in a following hour. 1400 interrupted by quick WWRB legal ID by Dave Frantz, evidently automated and nobody notices yet they are broadcasting this instead of Brother Scare. 1401 jingle acout Canada, 1-800-NEXT-BEST(?), Anaheim mentioned now and several other times. 1402 ``Persian Radio, Idar, Los Angeles``. 1403 ``Shabat Shalom`` and news centered on Israel, mentioning Obama,, Netanyahu, Falestin, helicopter, Assad, Bahrein. With music background for a couple minutes, then just continuous talk by YL from 1405. 1434 mentions kolisrael.com So I realize that this is a direct relay of Kol Israel`s Persian service which is also on SW. No doubt the words ``Shabat Shalom`` are banned from IRIB. I then match the audio here to epersianradio.com as above, running about one second behind WWRB. I continue listening mainly on web but with 9385 on in background with pre-echo. 1452 finally back to some music; 1500 another break on 9385 for quick WWRB ID, more Persian. 1501 another program Sedaye – something, also mentions Israel, local to LA? 1524 back to music. 1528 ``Inja Persian Radio``, more ads and some music; 1544 Persian pop music; 1555 mentions Radio Israel, so maybe it`s almost two hours from Jersualem. 1600 did not catch any WWRB ID, then to a commentary about Iran phoned in, I think from someone in New York. All this still going on 9385 and webcast at 1630 when I quit. Final check at 1738 before dispatching this report: 9385 still with Persian, no BS! Apparently this E-Persian Radio is a satellite/web station only, not related to the big AM station in LA, KIRN 670. Thanks, Dave, for improving your programming by many orders of magnitude. Hope you`ll do it again. 9385, kept checking WWRB from time to time the afternoon of April 16, since all morning it was carrying E-Persian Radio from Los Angeles, instead of Brother Stair, as in previous report. Yes, still with EPR at 1800, 1951, except for brief legal ID break at 2000, then Persian drama(?). Persian pop music at 2047. By next check 2346, 3185 was on instead, and STILL it`s Persian music, poor signal in noise this early, and no BS except on WWCR 9980. UT Sunday April 17: 0126, 3186 now good with Persian song, and 0336 still Persian music. Meanwhile, WWRB`s regular programming in English is now running on 2390/5050. Will EPR be on 3185 all night, and Sunday morning on 9385 again? Since this has gone on for at least 15 hours, I am beginning to think that just possibly, it`s intentional and WWRB has deliberately replaced BS with EPR. But it`s still quite a coincidence that they are on the same transponder. What does the WWRB website program schedule show? Ha, it hasn`t been updated in months, still showing WORLD OF RADIO et al. on 3185, no listing for 2390, and BS all day on 9385. Scenario: even if a human being is operating WWRB rather than just automation, they can`t stand to listen to him, and haven`t even turned up a monitor all day to discover they are broadcasting something else. Is anyone paying attention in Manchester, or Walterboro? Overcomer also still thinx it`s on 9385 and 3185: ftp://www.overcomerministry.org/RadioSchedule/Short%20Wave%20Radio.htm l I can`t help but wonder if I am the only listener who has noticed this or who ``cares``. If Stair had any audience at all, they would surely be deluging him with complaints and inquiries about this strange programming on ``his`` frequencies, obviously work of the devil. Meanwhile, spread the word to all your Persian friends while this last. 3185, April 17 at 0520 WWRB still with E-Persian Radio from Los Angeles rather than Brother Scare, traditional Persian music. But by next check at 1235 on day frequency 9385, back to the doom & gloom of BS. The fun is done! Now the LDPOG is // but not synchronized with 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330-CUSB, WBCQ with dead air instead of GFRN/Radio 2:11, April 15 at 0311 and further chex thru the nite at 0335, 0343, 0412, 0430, 0935, 1017, 1252; finally at next check 1354, modulation had resumed, now overshadowed by 9335 VOK closing English mixing with IBB. Except when I happened to be monitoring at hourtop 0500, 9330 came to life for a few sex with legal ID by Allan Weiner --- obviously automated, while the feed from Orangeville was lost for hours and hours before and after, and nothing done about it until next morning. Such is the plight of stations outsourcing programming. When I checked 7415 at 0328, it was also on the air with open carrier, and at 0335, but 7415 was off by 0412. 9330-CUSB, open carrier from WBCQ, April 16 at 0136: here we go again, with hours and hours of dead air like last night? No, at 0142, low- distorted modulation became audible and gradually strengthened to normal level in a few minutes. Axually, since I was sleeping rather than monitoring between 0430 and 0935 April 15, I cannot swear that there was never any audio in that 5-hour period and other breaks between my chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420, unID with theme 'leaving about aggressive Christianity' a web address, 2030 April 16, stopped a phone ..673xx5, 'activist 3' program, YL in a wording system similar to weather reports of a meteor station. S5 max, USB with suppressed! WBCQ the planet per Eibi (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1560 monitoring: confirmed on ACB Radio Mainstream webcast, UT Friday April 15 from 0100, to be repeated 2- hourly thru 2330. On WWRB, April 15 at 0331 dead air after preacher, 0332 Dave Frantz comes on live about World of Radio, ``stand by, we`re working on it``, and new WOR 1560 finally starts at 0334:10, on both frequencies 2390 and 5050. As usual, 2390 much stronger here, but T-storm noise on both from eastern OK/AR area. WRMI has just put up a new program schedule grid, in UT -4 = EDT: Several changes to be found at http://www.tinyurl.com/wrmisked a shortened link we ordered. If the ungainly real URL change, pursue it via http://www.wrmi.net/ and click on Progamming. A quick look shows WORLD OF RADIO at the same times as before, except losing the Saturday 1400 airing, replaced by R. Prague in English, which has resumed 7 days a week at that time instead of RFI on M-F. Our WWCR times: Friday 2030 15825, Saturday 1600 12160, Sunday 0630 3215. How are these doing in Eurafrica? See also ISRAEL [non] WORLD OF RADIO 1560 monitoring: confirmed on 15825 WWCR, Friday April 15 at 2030, but very weak. MUCH stronger signals from other US stations at similar distances but different direxions and azimuths: 15610 WEWN, and even 15550-USB WJHR had greater signal! WWCR is registered for 46 degree antenna, to CIRAF zones 4, 9, 27, 37-39, which means Canada east of 90W, Western Europe, North Africa, Middle East. I hope that`s really where reception is solid. 12160, WWCR, 1600 UT Saturday broadcast of WOR confirmed April 16, excellent reception here with heavily-processed audio on #2 transmitter. Final repeat to be Sunday 0630 on 3215. I again ask for some informal reports from Europe and vicinity about reception quality of WORLD OF RADIO Saturday at 1800 on 7290 via IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS-IBA. Any co- or adjacent-channel interference? BTW, the only WOR broadcast on WBCQ, 7415 checked on webcast, was at 2130 Wednesday April 13 rather than 2115 or 2100. Lately this has been carrying a week-old show as the new one is not quite ready at that time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9955, WRMI making rare appearance, Sat 4/16 0735, fair with AWR Wavescan to 0800 ID, then World of Radio (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA, Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1560 monitoring: 9955, WRMI, Sunday April 17 at 1550 check, cannot detect anything more than a carrier altho not jammed; but confirmed on webcast. WRMI is still not able to use its NW antenna, and we often suspect it`s also on the backup 5 kW transmitter instead of 50. Next airings are: Sun 1730, Mon 1130, 2130, Tue 1530, Wed 0100, 1530. Thanks to Ivan Huziak, who checked WOR reception in Karlovac, Croatia: ``Hello Mr. Glenn Hauser, This is reception report of your show World of Radio on Friday April 15, 2011 and Saturday April 16, 2011: Friday 20:30 UTC on 15825 - no signal Saturday 16:00 UTC on 12160 - no signal Saturday 18:00 UTC on 7290 SINPO is: 44455 Saturday 18:00 UTC on 1566 and 1368 MW - no signal Receiver: Toshiba RT-6390 (made in 1977 year) Antenna: Whip antenna 90 cm long`` 9955, April 19 at 1543, WORLD OF RADIO barely audible on WRMI for the Tuesday 1530 repeat --- fast SAH from YFR Russian via Tainan, TAIWAN. But no jamming. I have been remiss in not saying ``Thanks a lot, Arnie!`` for NOT jamming us at certain times, but still does so at other times. Next WOR airings are UT Wednesday 0100 and 1530. 7415, this Wednesday April 20, WBCQ played last week`s WORLD OF RADIO 1560 starting around 2100, as heard on webcast, but JBA on 7415 at 2119 check. Since WOR 1561 was not ready until 0445 April 21, WRMI presumably played 1560 one last time at 0330, totally blocked on 9955 by wall of noise jamming. Tnx a lot, Arnie! First airing of 1561 is Thursday 1500 on 9955, WRMI. Then at 2100, Friday 1430, Saturday 0800, 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730. On WWRB: UT Friday 0330 on 2390, 5050; On WWCR: Friday 2030 on 15825, Saturday 1600 on 12160, Sunday 0630 on 3215; on IPAR: Saturday 1800 on 7290 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Huxter Alert --- 2030 on about 15809.5, cannot copy in AM, but both SSB's work. 2034: it`s a 15825 spur (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The WWCR-1 transmitter, it seems always has spurs at plus and minus 15.6 kHz, audiblizing when the fundamental become strong enough, so also parasitic to 3215, 7465, 9985 during their hours. I have refrained from adding them to the WORLD OF RADIO schedule (gh, DXLD) 15825, WWCR Nashville TN (presumed); 2029, 16-Apr; Faith for the World ending at 2029, right into yelling Bible huxter without ID. All English. SIO=4+44+ with studio bleed QRM? Putting out weak spurs on about 15809.5 & 15840.6. Both spurs only copyable in either SSB (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5890, a terrible vacuum with Brother Scare and WWCR missing, April 19 at 0549, while the other three transmitters were normal, 5935, 4840, 3215. Around 1245, the BS disservice on 9980 is back as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WTWW: George McClintock sent us semidozen shots of the poles being erected for rhombic antenna #3, dated April 19. But we`re still waiting for transmitter #2 to show up on the air for first testing (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12050, April 17 at 1247, squealing WEWN transmitter nicely fills in the long boring pauses during daily morning TV mass live simulcast, with nothing else but an occasional cough. Even so, the order of the mass is to say the least, extremely predictable, so why keep doing it over and over? God likes his followers to be in a rut? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Images of defunct KGEI Redwood City CA: See PHILIPPINES [and non] ** U S A. Re 11-15, ``OKLAHOMA --- II. BACKGROUND 2. On July 13, 2010, the Media Bureau issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (“NAL”) in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to Licensee for willfully violating Sections 73.503(d) and 73.811 of the Rules, as well as Section 399B of the Act.3 As noted in the NAL, Chisholm Trail Broadcasting Co. (“Chisholm Trail”), in its petition to deny Licensee’s renewal application, demonstrated...`` I wonder what Chisholm Trail's beef is against Enid PRA? Several years ago, I filed a complaint against WORZ-LP 104.3 MHz, (located within the gated Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, FL and thus inaccessible to the public even during weekday business hours to view any possible public files, but we won't go there). At least up to then (and I would suspect it continues), they blatantly aired commercials for local businesses. The FCC responded in writing that no action would be taken unless I submitted an audio file, which I did not make. The next time I'm down that way, trust me, my cell phone's digital recorder will capture it if still in violation (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Florida DX News and "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" are at: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, I asked the ATLANTA FCC Agent in charge of the Atlanta FCC office why no PUBLIC Notice was issued on the closed down of WEAK 6925. This is what he had to say: Subject: RE: Mr. Miller, Recording of you closing down WEAK radio Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:30:54 -0400 ``No, there will no publicity on the shutdown of this HF pirate. Doug Miller, FCC, Atlanta`` (Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The WEAK radio rumor is mentioned on the CKUT DX show last Sunday... https://secure.ckut.ca//64/20110410.10.30-11.00.mp3 (Artie Bigley, ibid.) about two-thirds into the file (gh) AWWW mentions WEAK bust here: http://radionewyorkinternational.com/archives/aww/2011-0415%20Allan%20Weiner%20Worldwide.mp3 Its a little over halfway through the show. No minutes listed on this one so I'm guessing after the 40 minute mark (Artie Bigley, OH, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 580 KSAZ AZ - DX TEST NOTIFICATION Oregon DXer Patrick Martin relays word from Paul Lotsof of Arizona that 580 KSAZ in Marana AZ will test later this month. Sunday morning, April 24, 0000-0300 PDT (0300-0600 EDT). [07-10 UT] The station is known as Radio Ebineezer [sic], programs religion in Spanish, and will be running regular programming but at its 5,000-watt non-directional day pattern. English IDs are anticipated on the hour. KSAZ transmits from an array just west of I-10, about 15 miles NW of Tucson. Paul Lotsof says the station (another individual made the decision) will not be running tones or code, so anyone who thinks they have the station is welcome to call him (Paul) at 520-290-9797 and he can confirm it by playing it into the telephone. I realize that the majority of us, myself included, greatly favour the inclusion of morse code IDs, sweep tones, and such. And if fact without these the chances of logging a station are significantly reduced. My own case in point - from central Ontario, I anticipate zero chances of hearing this (stations in Windsor and Ottawa ON are dominant). Sweeps and code would be obvious and would spike through the other stations and present a sliver of opportunity for me. Even Spanish religion - something I have never heard on 580 here - is unlikely to be enough to do the job. My best guess is that a few DXers within fringe-range (CA CO OR, TX OK) will hear the station. This test will have virtually the same effect as a station running day power/pattern at night, with regular programming and IDs. I'm also thinking that DXers Down Under or in Hawaii might stand a chance. If I am at my Burnt River site on the morning of Sunday April 24, I'll give it a go. But I put my own odds at freaky-unlikely. I think I stand a better chance of hearing FIBS on 530. I say all this because I want to make the following point - that I think we need to appreciate what we can get. The alternative is nothing. Furthermore, I see noise-less tests as conversation-starters. Maybe there can be a "next time". The same goes for tests organized at the last minute. We greatly prefer tests with at least a month's notice. That enables publicity to be included in DX club paper bulletins - some DXers do not have access to e-mail or to computers - and for inclusion on the DX Audio Service (DXAS). Many subscribers to DXAS also do not have access to computers. But sometimes, an engineer will decide at the last minute to run a test. In all these cases, we can only hope the test will be as widely heard as possible, and that we can use this test, with any perceived shortcomings, to build a bridge to another down the road that has more DXer-friendly features. I will report QSL and related information when I have that. So, go get 'em (Saul Chernos for the IRCA-NRC DX TEST COMMITTEE, April 3, sauldx @ sympatico.ca IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. I checked 1660 kHz a few minutes ago and KUDL (ex-KXTR) was broadcasting classical music. I assume they'll also be carrying minor league KC T-Bone baseball games. Considering it's the closest station to me on 1660, its signal doesn't get out very well. Barely audible during the day, and at night covered by KQWB. Other KC stations like KCSP, KCMO and WHB have listenable signals here during the day. KMBZ and KYYS are also audible 24/7 (Richard Allen. 36?22'51"N / 97?26'35"W (near Perry OK USA), IRCA via DXLD) I heard KUDL earlier tonight and logged them as a call change. They have a very interesting legal ID featuring a practice that gained some prevalence a few years ago, especially on FM stations -- the weak, almost inaudible call letter set. The KUDL legal reads: "You're listening to Radio Bach [soft and quick 'KUDL'], Kansas City's HD classical station, 96.5 FM HD2 [soft and quick 'KRBZ'], 1660 AM, and streaming on the web at radiobach,com." 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, April 4, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: KTRU agreement with KPFT to keep KTRU on air on KPFT's digital signal « Reply #29 on: Today at 11:10:44 AM » http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-695A1.pdf "We find that neither the Petitioners nor the Objectors have raised a substantial and material question of fact warranting further inquiry. We further find that grant of the Applications is consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, that the Petition to Deny filed by Friends of KTRU IS DENIED, the Informal Objections submitted by Janet Greenberg, Karen Bush, and William McGuinness, IV ARE DENIED, and that the applications for approval to assign the license for NCE Station KTRU(FM), Houston, Texas (BALED-20101029ACX) and FM Translator Station K218DA, Houston, Texas (File No. BALFT-20101029ACY) from William Marsh Rice University to University of Houston System ARE GRANTED." (via idlock Joe rimember, radio-info.com via Artie Bigley, DXLD) KUHC now on the way « on: Today at 12:28:28 PM » Had been wondering what was going on, since it had been eight months since news of the deal first broke, and over five months since the transfer application was filed with the FCC. Didn't hear any mention of the future KUHC during KUHF's fund drive this week. The FCC letter is worth a read. Pretty much spells out what we had predicted: The FCC doesn't get involved with format disputes, is not going to force an owner to retain a station it doesn't want, and recognizes that U of H, already an owner in good standing of a broadcast station, can use that standing to show that it is qualified to own a second station. The delusions of the "Save KTRU" crown have finally been burst. If they want their brand of alternative radio on in Houston, they should start their own station. Plenty of basket case stations to be had (mediafrog+, radio-info.com via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ARTICLE on KTRU: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/04/fcc_approves_ktru_sale_to_univ.php (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. For once the A,P website, with a misspelt URL, http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve/info/2/2093/%5Caluepresidente%5Cno_serutransmitido_por.html provides some date-specific info, that it will not be aired April 17 or 24: ``El programa dominical "Aló, Presidente", conducido por el comandante Hugo Chávez, no será transmitido este domingo 17 de abril, debido al asueto de semana santa. La información la suministró el ministro del Poder Popular para la Comunicación y la Información, Andrés Izarra, a través de su usuario en la red social Twitter, @izarradeverdad. El programa del presidente, es el espacio comunicacional más importante del país, y cuenta con una alta audiencia. La suspensión del mismo, también se extiende al domingo 24 de abril`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** VIETNAM [non]. 6175, VOV via CANADA is still running Vietnamese lessons for English speakers toward the end of Vietnamese-language hours rather than English! April 15 at 0524 sentence-by-sentence translation of text about the Olympix, women allowed since 1928. 0525 finished, into all-Vietnamese, 0527 switch to Babcock fill music loop as always, 0529 a few iterations of the RCI IS and IDs in French and English, and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 6165, ZNBC2. Lusaka. 2011/04/15 fri 1815-1821, Barely audible. Easy listenin' music. Sounded like current affairs from about 1816, mentioned "Lusaka" and "kwacha" (local currency). At 1820, more easy listenin'. Poor, much QRN. Local Sunset 1553. 6165, ZNBC2. Lusaka. 2011/04/16 sat 0502-0520, News "courtesy of Airtel". ID "ZNBC" at 0507. Airtel advert at 0515 then ID "Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation" followed by afro music. Fair. Local Sunrise 0424 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710: There are no Spanish pirates in the Boston area that I know of. I know of at least two French-language, the Haitian Creole dialect, actually. One is Radio Soleil Internationale, the other is Radio Top Inter. Soleil has been heard very recently. Both are supposedly in the Boston area, where I believe there must be enough of a Haitian ex-pat population to support it. There's also at least one or two Spanish-language pirates in the U.S. There's evidence one is in the Bronx, and speculation of another in the Norfolk VA area. The one believed to be in CA is apparently running non-stop Spanish religious music with no talk or IDs. I heard this one a few days ago, taped it right through the TOH, with no success at anything IDable. I've also previously heard a station with Spanish talk and music there, seemingly also religious. This may be the Bronx station - and all this presupposes that the two stations are indeed different. I did have strong Spanish music on 1710 during auroral conditions with a BOG aimed south, when signals were good to an area from VA to the Caribbean, and out to TN and Mexico (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, March 24, IRCA via DXLD) With regard to Saul's question as to how both stations co-exist on the same frequency, they are about 25 miles apart and, presumably, low power One is in Dorchester, a neighborhood in Boston, and the other is in Brockton. Check out Bruce Conti's list of Boston area unlicensed stations: http://www.bamlog.com/bostonlp.htm (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?t=228 ibid.) Getting to the bottom of 1710 --- I haven't seen these posted yet - web links with live audio to some of the 1710 stations we're talking about. I'm in downtown Toronto where DXing is near-impossible, so that gives me time to think outside my radiobox. When I'm at my Burnt River DX site I'm so focused on the radio (when I'm not working) that I neglect these things. You can bet I'll be trying to sync what I'm hearing on 1710 with these live links whenever I'm on 1710. They give every impression of being live. Radio Celestiale: http://www.smjrc.com Radio Soleil Internationale: http://www.radiosoleilinternational.com Radio Top Inter: Nothing I can find I think these two live audio sites - if they're truly live, and it sounds like it - are a no-brainer for anyone of us DXing 1710. Use these to ID the stations and/or rule them out and have other suspects. I'd like to further have us all tear through Shawn Axelrod's excellent list on amandx and sort out what's on the air full-time, occasionally, or not at all. Some of the following are in a community near YOU! So please help the cause! So, from http://www.angelfire.com/mb/exband/miscunid.html : 1710 RADIO TOP INTER HYDE PARK-DORCHESTER MA USA FRENCH CARIBBEAN RELAYED ON 98.9 FM 1710 WDCX DADE CITY FL US NEWS TALK 1710 LUBAVITCHER RADIO NEW YORK CITY USA HEBREW/YIDDISH FORMAT ALSO CALLED RADIO MOSHIACH & REDEMPTION 1710 W807 GLASFORD IL USA 1710 AM 1710 ANTIOCH ANTIOCH IL USA OLD TIME RADIO 1710 RADIO FENIQUE/RADIO SUMMUM JACKSONVILLE FL ORLANDO FL/LAWRENCEVILLE GA USA GOSPEL/TALK/WORLD MUSIC 1710 VOIX DE LAKAY WINTER HAVEN FL USA 1710 RADIO SANTIAGO ??? NEW YORK USA 1710 RADIO SOLEIL INTERNATIONAL STOCKTON MA USA VOICE OF THE HAITIANS 1710 RADIO AMOR CARSON CITY NV USA SPANISH MUSIC AND RELIGIOUS 1710 LIBERTY RADIO SOUIX FALLS SD/OMAHA NE/MAPLE GROVE MN/SOUTH BEND IN USA POLITICAL TALK 1710 RADIO ? TU IDENTIDAD RADN TUCSON AZ USA SPANISH LATIN 1710 NEIGHBOURHOOD RADIO HALF MOON BAY CA USA COMMUNITY RADIO 1710 WSOL FORT WAYNE IN USA R&B MUSIC 1710 DADE CITY FREE RADIO DADE CITY FL USA OLDIES MUSIC OLD TIME RADIO AND TALK 1710 THE WIRE NORMAN OK USA UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 1710 CNX RADIO CONNECTICUT MIDDLETON CT USA ROCK MUSIC HIGH SCHOOOL SPORTS 1710 KOLD LINCOLN NE USA OLDIES TALK OLD TIME RADIO 1710 KDHM WAXMAN RADIO AM 1710 WALNUT RIDGE AR USA SPORTS OLD TIME RADIO 1710 SENIOR RADIO EDISON NJ USA NOS BIG BAND OLDIES 1710 KONK KEY WEST FL USA VARIETY 1710 RADIO CELESTIAL BRONX NY USA SPANISH RELIGIOUS 1710 WONE OMAHA NE USA URBAN TALK THE ONE 1710 RUSSIAN CHURCH STATION PUGET SOUND WA USA SATELLITE FEED RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING 1710 AM 1710 LIGHTHOUSE RADIO BAYVIEW/MILWAUKEE WI USA CLASSICAL MUSIC IRN NEWS FROM SOUL'S HARBOR BAPTSIT CHURCH ID AS AM 1710 BAYVIEW MILWAUKEE 1710 THE BIG Q UNKNOWN USA OLDIES 1710 KMUD MOJAVE DESERT AREA CA USA RELAY OF KMUD FM I can say from hearing it last week that the Big Q is a very occasional oldies pirate, and I am guessing Michigan, but that's just a guess. I also wonder if Radio Mosiach is still on the air. It used to be dominant. But now we have Celestial in the Bronx. I never heard it ID as or be called Lubavitcher Radio, though - I think that's just a nickname we DXers gave it. But maybe I'm wrong? (Saul Chernos, Toronto/Burnt River ON, IRCA via DXLD) Shawn's list is amazing as usual. However, there is no such place as "Stockton, MA." Stockton is in CA, BROCKTON is in MA. Sorry to nitpick (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) Radio Moshiach and Redemption in Brooklyn seems to be off the air - http://www.radiomoshiach.org/ When this was up and running, it was an endless playlist of very low bitrate preaching. Very strong station then went off the air. Radio Celestial in the Bronx - Religious preaching in Spanish - is very strong. I can hear it in Stamford, CT in the daytime - http://www.smjrc.com/ (Karl Zuk, ibid.) Looking on Radio Celestial's website, I could swear I see a tower in the background (Paul B Walker, Jr., IL, ibid.) Working down your list, sir... Have never confirmed that Top Inter is actually on the air; I asked Connelly since he's local, but was ignored, in keeping with NRC oligarchical tradition. It seems unlikely that it is actually on, given Soleil on the same channel, and I've never seen an actual log of it that confirmed it was Top Inter and not Soleil. Will check my peninsular comrades with respect to Dade City. Note that there are two list entries for the same location. Lubavitscher (thus nicknamed by virtue of being run by Chabad Lubavitsch sect) used to be easily heard down here but not for a few years, far stronger than anything heard there now. Fenique/Summum was publicized but never confirmed on the air at any of their alleged tx sites. When Lakay showed up, we first thought it was this but it was determined otherwise. All details about this one were derived solely from their website. Lakay is off, was audible here daytimes even but didn't last more than a few weeks, last log being 15 April 2008. I DF'd that one to Winter Haven myself. Soleil is confirmed active, 1709.983, tends to be the second strongest station on channel here, but generally buried by Celestial. Will inquire regionally re. KONK also. I thought that was on 1630 (see entry on link below). Celestial is the dominant 1710 station here, 1710.026 typically. Big Q has been known to make it into our area during its sporadic appearances, though I have yet to hear it myself since I'm rarely DXing at 0300 local. Most of these stations are somewhat off-frequency but generally stable. Characterization of their frequencies down to the Hz would be useful for IDing when signal strength doesn't support aural identification. This site has some Floridian 1710 references: https://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/florida-low-power-radio-stations Terry isn't good about closure on the station entries however, i.e. recording then they disappear, so they don't necessarily still exist simply because an entry doesn't say they pulled the plug. Note the one entry about the WOCL/WKTK relay there; that's our biggest regional mystery, but it shows up very rarely. Undercover Radio (SW pirate) has used 1710 on occasion, audible here. If you plan to do so, it would be great to have a 1710 list online that is actually up-to-date and relies on something besides others' old web postings as information sources. You'd have my enthusiastic support with my own observations. 73, dc (David Crawford, FL, April 3, IRCA via DXLD) I believe KONK was a bunch of part 15 AM transmitters. They are leasing the 250 watt full time signal of 1500 AM in Key West, FL now I think (Paul B Walker, Jr., ibid.) Since there has been a lot of discussion on this topic recently, I decided to check out 1710 from Quincy, MA this morning at 0800 EDT. All alone with a fairly good signal on my Toyota car radio was R. Soleil International, Brockton, MA in Caribbean French with lively music, a live DJ, and even ads. Although I don't speak Caribbean French (and VERY little European/Canadian French), it was easy to note the syntax of an ad and even heard the English words "washer and dryer." Brockton is about 17 miles from Quincy. No trace of R. Top Inter listed in Dorchester only 5 miles distant. No trace of any Spanish stations on 1710. It is also interesting to note that there are Caribbean French stations on nearly EVERY X-Band channel in Metro Boston. From Quincy, 1670 was the strongest - loud & clear with very good audio quality. I hope this info is helpful to someone. Personally, I would like to see ALL of these Pirates shut down ASAP. IMHO, all they do is clutter up frequencies and kill chances for more distant DX from legitimate stations (Marc DeLorenzo. South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?t=228 ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710, Times are Eastern Local time for Domestic DX / UTC for foreign (non Canada and USA) DX 1710, The Big Q, Unknown, 04/17 0518 [0918 UT, then] fairly good signals here with lots of oldies and several The Big Q IDs. Has anyone found out where this station is located? It sure isn`t a Part 15 by the way it gets out. 73 Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, Winnipeg MB, ODXA yg via DXLD) A Google search indicates it's regarded as a MW pirate. Plenty of loggings out there but no one has indicated (or divulged) a location. Use the search phrase "1710 the big q" (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6154.92, 2347, April 12 and again April 15, muffled talk, not even sure of language. Sizeable carrier in the clear at first but blocked by AIR Urdu 0015. Wonder if this is just a spur, anyone else hearing this? 6154.92, 2249, April 17, carrier fading in as co-channel CNR -2 was fading out. Noted during random checks to 0003 tune-out. Again could not pull out any decent audio, still a complete mystery to me! 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe this, from http://www.mcdxt.it/LASWLOGS.html LA SW Logs? 6155v BOL R Fides, La Paz [1000-1330/2117-0203*v](.00-.35) Mar11 W SS (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 11-15: ``9340, R?, 0409 11 April with international news in English, ID in Arabic. A song that seems Slavic. Person ‘kabaye Saat‘ with talks in Arabic I supposed as R Prague due to the song. For 12.4 9340 is off (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Nothing on 9340 at any time in HFCC or Aoki; a typo? Prague?? I don`t think so; they are gone from SW except WRMI (gh, DXLD)`` 15-4, 9340, Miraya FM, finally IDed today: On at 0426 with talks by OM in Arabic then a HoA song, a title 'Mahaz Burasili' then OM with ID, S6, max 44434. Found to be in //9670 (main with signal S40) and 10000 (S5) Notice that this signal is not heard everyday!! (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, HCDX via DXLD) So 9340 and 10000 are apparently matching spurs +/- 330 kHz from fundamental 9670, presumably still Rimavska Sobota, SLOVAKIA. Don’t see how any additional frequencies could be involved, like 9505 or 9835 halfway betweens. Could ZL`s earlier 10000 unID at a completely different time be something else? Miraya FM via IRRS ``Milano`` is at 0300-0600 only. There have been several previous reports of broadcast spurs on 10000 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ``UNIDENTIFIED. 10000, station at 1545 10 April with Turkish or Kurdish songs. At 1551 with ID ??? (very poor signal mixed with Chinese time station) Seems 1559* There is a recording http://www.mediafire.com/?q41lizee9yb60yc (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD)`` UNIDENTIFIED. 9396.5, April 15 at 1355 at first sounds like distorted music spur cutting on and off, but maybe it`s a ute, hard to pinpoint somewhere between 9396 and 9397, definitely not a spur from WTJC 9370 music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 9420, 16.4 1915, OID med arabiska. Kan eventuellt vara Algeriet men behövs bandmanglas då jag valde fotbollen på TV istället. DO 9420, 16.4 1915, unID in Arabic. Might be Algeria but need tape mangling as I choose football on TV instead (Dan Olsson, Furulund, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420 Arabic is Iran, 1630-0530 QRMing Greece as reported in DXLD (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 11500, April 18 at 1252 open carrier, with het, flutter. Aoki has V of Russia going from English to Hindi at 1300 via Tajikistan, and also Sound of Hope. Dushanbé lost feed? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I was hearing Fire-drake at that time here mixed with presumably the other stations. It was exceptional propagation last night. You should have heard 7055 LSB with 20 Indonesian stations all talking at the same time. Bedlam! (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWNIA: 11665, 1400-1600+, 12/13-Apr; Hearing an echoey signal in Asian language. Wishful thinking is Malaysia -- nothing on 9835 at same time. Thanks-a-lot-Arnie on 11670 isn't helping (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by ear, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12190, as I was hearing Firedrake on 12180, April 18 at 1249 there is also open carrier here, fair with flutter. Only listing for 12190 is Aoki with SOH via Tajikistan at 1500-1530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15540 8.4 1550 OID men troligen någon av clandestinerna. Lät som African Horn-musik i alla fall, men de pratade definitivt inte arabiska. Jag letade efter nya Sudanstationen Shararah, New Youth Voice, som ska sända på detta språk, men de dagar den ska sända, finns det ingenting där. BEFF 15540, 8.4 1550, unID but probably some of the clandestine stations. Sounded like African Horn-music in any case, but definitely not talk in Arabic. I was looking for the new Sudanese station, Shararah, New Youth Voice, which ought to transmit in this language, but nothing there on the scheduled days (Björn Fransson, Visby, Sweden, SW Bulletin April 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tue/Thu/Sat, but 8 April was Fri (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 17730, April 15 at 1332, open carrier with `Russian` tones, on and off a few times a minute, but 1333-1334 stayed on constantly for a full minute, then off a semiminute, back on for some 65 seconds. Nothing is scheduled in HFCC or Aoki on 17730 after 1200. Poor signal, at first thought it was 17725 Libya, but that was even weaker, JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17823 approx., intruders April 19 at 1338-1340, 2-way SSB in Spanish, BFO het 17825 where nothing in AM is scheduled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Many tnx for a check in the mail from Will Martin, St Louis MO (DXLD 11-15, WORLD OF RADIO 1561) Thanks to William Hassig, Mount Prospect IL, for a check in the mail to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 [to be acknowledged next week] PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ [Re 11-15] HFCC now offers station-by-station schedules The problem of some international broadcasters not updating their websites in a timely manner, and the fustration of missing a broadcast because you don’t know its frequency, has been solved - at least for those stations that are active participants in the High Frequency Co- ordination Conference (HFCC). You can now access the current HF frequency schedules of individual broadcasters by clicking on the ‘A11 Schedules’ link on the HFCC website, or go direct to this URL: http://www.hfcc.org/data/a11/index.phtml As broadcasters and Frequency Management Organizations upload changes to their schedules, the data displayed via the TX links on this page will automatically be updated. You can also view complete schedules for all the transmissions of each Frequency Management Organization (FMO) which arranges transmissions for more than one broadcaster. Thus for RNW you can choose to view just our own transmissions, or a complete list of all the transmissions coordinated by our Programme Distribution department. NB: It is not (yet) possible to distinguish between AM and DRM. (Source: Oldrich Cip/Jan Peter Werkman, HFCC)(April 15th, 2011 - 15:18 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Why not? One is N and one is D, and D does not mean DRM (gh, DXLD) A11 SCHEDULE LISTS Those looking for schedule information might find these links useful: The Aoki schedule file was updated earlier today - see http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/ The EiBi A11 file was posted yesterday - see http://eibispace.de/ The HFCC schedule file was updated yesterday - see [corrected to:] http://www.hfcc.org The PTSW file was updated April 4 - see http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/ The FCC schedule file was last updated March 24 - see http://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/neg/hf_web/seasons.html The Radio Netherlands schedule file was updated yesterday - see http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/rnw-frequency-schedule-summer-2011 The Deutsche Welle schedule file was updated April 11 - see http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1777509,00.html The Media Broadcast file was updated April 11 - see http://www.media-broadcast.com/en/radio/analogue-radio-networks/short-wave.html The NASWA Combined schedule file, with all these and more, in a single Excel spreadsheet, as well as text and Perseus versions (all zipped) was posted this morning. Dan Ferguson, North American Shortwave Assn: http://www.naswa.net Combined SWBC skeds .xls & TEXT - updated April 16 at 1500 GMT: http://www.hfskeds.com/skeds/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shortwave-radio "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." (Dan Ferguson, SC, April 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The DOMESTIC BROADCASTING SURVEY 13 (DBS-13), April 2011 edited by DSWCI Chairman, Anker Petersen. ISSN 1399-8218 PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DANISH SHORTWAVE CLUB INTERNATIONAL (DSWCI) http://www.dswci.org NEW SURVEY AVAILABLE: The 54 years old DSWCI which counts experienced DX-ers in 33 countries all over the world as members, has just issued the 13th Edition of its annual Domestic Broadcasting Survey. This survey is divided into three parts: Part 1: The 39th edition of the Tropical Bands Survey covering all ACTIVE broadcasting stations on 2300-5700 kHz, including clandestines. Part 2: Domestic stations on international shortwave bands above 5700 kHz broadcasting to a domestic audience. Part 3: Deleted frequencies between 2 and 30 MHz which have not been reported heard during the past five years, but may reappear. (This Part 3 is only published in the E-mail version, but buyers of the printed version can get a copy from the Editor upon request.) This new Survey is based upon many official sources and DX-bulletins. A11 schedules are included when available. In order to make the DBS reliable, our own monitors around the world have checked throughout the period May 2010 – March 2011, if each of the 775 station frequencies is on the air. ACTIVE stations are marked with an A ("Regular"), B ("Irregular") or C ("Sporadic") in the list. D means "Likely inactive". A unique feature is the right column called "Last log". It shows the last month and year before DBS deadline on March 31, 2011 when the particular station was reported logged by a DX-er somewhere in the world. This is another way of indicating the current audibility of the station. To avoid inactive stations in this DBS, most frequencies which have not been heard during the past year, have been deleted and are moved to Part 3. Other useful features for easy identification (ID) are the parallel frequencies and reference to Station ID slogans. Three sample extracts from the DBS-13 are shown on the next page. Reviews can be found on http://www.dswci.org All buyers of DBS-13 will get a username and password to the monthly updates on the tropical bands published as "Tropical Bands Monitor" on our website. The similar data from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 are available at http://www.dswci.org/tbm to anybody. The 26 pages A-4 size DBS-13 is available by e-mail as pdf-format (about 750 kB). A limited number is also available printed on paper. It has 23 pages without Part 3. It is sold by the treasurer: DSWCI, c/o Bent Nielsen, Egekrogen 14, DK 3500 Vaerloese, DENMARK E-Mail edition: DKK 35,00 or USD 7.00 or EUR 5,00 or GBP 4,00 or SEK 45,00 or IRC 3. Printed edition: DKK 70,00 or USD 14.00 or EUR 10,00 or GBP 9,00 or SEK 90,00 or IRC 6. Payment by cash notes are accepted whereas checks and postal money orders are not accepted. DSWCI Bank is Danske Bank, 2-12 Holmens Kanal, DK-1092 Copenhagen K. BIC/SWIFT : DABADKKK. IBAN: DK 44 3000 4001 528459. Danish buyers please use: Reg. 3001- konto 4001528459. If you have EURO as national currency, you are advised to pay to our representative in Germany, Andreas Schmid. Andreas Schmid, Lerchenweg 4, D-97717 Euerdorf, Germany. E-mail: schmidandy @ aol.com Account 2912472076 at Targobank BLZ: 30020900. BIC: CMCIDEDD. IBAN: DE24300209002912472076 If you want to pay via PAYPAL, you have to contact Andreas Schmid, before you send your payment. Payment via PayPal only in US$ currency and only for persons, living outside the European Union (EU). Best 73's, (Anker Petersen and Bent Nielsen, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ CAPE COD - MARCONI SPECIAL EVENT SATURDAY APRIL 23 Southgate April 19, 2011 Cape Cod National Seashore will host a special event on April 23 to celebrate one of its cultural resources, the Marconi Wireless Station site in South Wellfleet. It was from this station that Marconi sent the first wireless- transatlantic message from the United States to Europe on January 18, 1903. The site was listed in 1975 on the National Register of Historic Places for its importance in the history of technology and its association with Marconi. Marconi is often referred to as the "Father of Radio." He won the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics for his contributions to wireless communications. Worldwide, radio, and wireless technology are now part of most people's daily lives. Activities will be held at two locations: 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, Coast Guard Station, Coast Guard Beach, Eastham. Visit with the Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club, KM1CC and local amateur radio operators while they make radio contacts in International Morse Code and voice with people around the world. Activities for kids will be offered, including the use of signal flags and Morse code using sound and light. 10 AM to 2 PM, Marconi Station Site, off Route 6, South Wellfleet. A ranger and amateur radio operators will give a tour of the Marconi Station Site exhibits and demonstrate wireless technologies like two- way radios and global positioning systems (GPS). If you go: The Coast Guard Station, Coast Guard Beach, Eastham is located at the end of Doane Road. Turn right at the traffic light at Route 6 and Nauset Road. Proceed until you reach the ocean, then turn right to cross the bridge leading to the Coast Guard Station. The Marconi Station Site is located in the Marconi Station Area, Wellfleet. Turn right at the Marconi Station Area traffic light on Route 6 in Wellfleet. Turn left and follow the road to where it ends at the Marconi Station Site. For more information on Cape Cod National Seashore programs call 508-255-3421, or check the park's website, http://www.nps.gov/caco (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ CALL LETTER MEANINGS - 75 YEARS AGO There have been many lists of call letters and what they stood for, but this is from a 1935 DX News and might be more authentic than later sources. WRC Washington Radio Corporation WOS Watch Our State WJJD James J. Davis WCCO Washburn Crosby Company WMMN Mansfield M. Neely WAAW Where Agriculture Accumulates Wealth WEBR We Extend Buffalo's Regards WFAA Working For All Alike WHBF Where Historic Blackhawk Fought WLBL Wisconsin, Land of Beautiful Lakes WOCL We're On Chatauqua Lake WDOD Wonderful Dynamo of Dixie WDBO Way Down By Orlando KWKC Keep Watching Kansas City KWWG Kum to the World's Winter Garden KVOO Voice of Oklahoma KPRC Kotton, Port, Rail Center (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, April 1, IRCA via DXLD) Here in Southern California during the cold war no less, we had a couple former AM station call signs that I always found humorous. 1) KIEV 870 Glendale CA 2) KGB 1360 San Diego CA. The former claims that the call sign was just assigned sequentially. I don't know what the latter stood for, but their FM still keeps that call sign on 101.5. By the way, 1360 AM is now KLSD %$#! (Mike Sanburn, ibid.) How about KMOX, our 50 kW blowtorch in St Louis at 1120 Kz. The transmitter is located south of the city in the small town of Kirkwood, Mo. They went on the air in the '20s on Christmas Eve. Ergo, K-MO-X (David Martin, St Louis, ibid.) beware back-formations (gh) My grandfather was a card-carrying member of the Keep Growing Wiser Order of the Hootowls in the 1920s. That was a listener club that KGW ran back then (Mike Hawkins, ibid.) My college radio station at Valdosta State College (now Valdosta State University) in Valdosta, GA is WVVS. It's supposed to be We're the Wonderful Voice of Valdosta State. However, in college, during my heavy metal show, I used to call it the Wicked Voice of Vice and Sin. Somehow it fit, but I used to get some looks whenever I said it out loud (Bert New, Watkinsville, Georgia, Proudly Serving You Since 1964! Ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ETÓN E1 "TACKY CASE ISSUE" I wanted to report that my Etón e1 developed a severe case of tackiness or stickiness, as reported on Yahoo Groups, from a hydroscopy condition, which traps moisture below the rubberized coating. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst, mine had a 5! So after reading the suggestions, I chose the course of using 91% isopropyl alcohol, along with a small brush and several pieces of cotton cloth cut from an old tee shirt. At first, it seemed like it wasn't working out for me, since the "stickiness" remained. But I pursued my rubbing and additional alcohol until I reached below the rubberized coating and essentially rubbed it off, down to the plastic case. The good news is that the stencil lettering was unaffected and the grey gunmetal color was still there. The disappointing news is that it took several hours of the old "elbow grease" method! The miniature horse bristle brush was invaluable for working around the knobs and tight spaces, as well as the best method for me to remove the sticky residue flaking off of the case, into its many indents or joints. I finished up today - every part except for the back angle stand, which I did not fully rub. I wasn't concerned here, since I built a wood stand of my own design to hold the e1 on top, bottom and back. I use an external aerial, so the whip is always closed fully, thereby fitting in the case. The effort proved very fruitful and the case is now free of the tackiness that made for a messy surface collecting dirt and dust and looking poorly. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, April 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Ice BOG Cometh There's been some discussion on the WTFDA Forums about a BOG I've been using here at Burnt River ON, where I've placed them atop the ice of frozen Four Mile Lake. I'r Reprinting my posts, leaving the interlocutors unIDed save their location because I have not asked them. I'm moving the discussion to the lists (partly because it originated in an area meant for solving unIDs). MY INITIAL MARCH 20 POST: Looks like I'm headed back to Burnt River for more punishment tomorrow. With the spring thaw upon us a bit early, I was feeling disappointed that I'd likely be removing the BOG wires from the ice for the last time this season, as it will likely be mildly unsafe to venture back onto the lake to put them back. But at the last minute I decided that if the lake is unsafe for walking, there'll likely be no snowmobile traffic to chew up the wires, or get snarled in them. And the ice is covered in small patches of water. I'll likely leave them in until the ice breaks up (usually mid-April, may be earlier this year). At that point, if the wires are still intact I'll pull them out from the shore. (Ice is powerful, won't surprise me if the ice breakup rips the wires to shreds...and I'm curious to see what does unfold). Late last winter was the first time I've ever put BOGs on lake ice, and I can say that the results have been uniformly incredible. Almost every time I've been at the dials, the DX has been phenomenal. I have been getting 3-5 new stations some days, and I'm closing in on 2000, so it's no mean feat to do that. Normally I'm happy to get one new catch every two days of intense time at the dials, maybe one or two in a week when I'm more casual about it. I don't think it's conditions. I think I've hit on something good with the BOGs on Lake Ice, and you can bet I'll be at it when the lake freezes over again next winter (often by Christmas). LOUISIANA, MARCH 21: Saul, that is very interesting about the antennas in ice. That sure worked well for you. I know you have an AOR receiver. How many receivers are you using? SAUL MARCH 21: Mainly the AOR. One is enough to keep me more than busy. I have two dormant Sangean ATS 909 portables that are now relegated mainly to FM. Occasionally I will attach one to a radio shacvk loop, but have just purchased a larger loop that should arrive soon (for the AOR). I have a Tecsun 380 modified with a loopstick, but again I just use it for nulls. Much as these ULRs are fun and useful in certain ways, I'm not finding anywhere close to the same results as I am with the AOR. When I have a thousand to spend on another radio I see getting a Perseus... I might add to my point about the Ice BOGs. They are also aimed west and southwest, whereas I probably maxed out the east, northeast and southeast BOGs. They're all unterminated, but my radio to some degree acts as a terminator. But I'm getting much less QRM from the back end with the ice BOGs than I was getting from the west with the ones running easterly through forest. I have no solid proof - may be the lack of tree cover, or the proximity to water, or the very straight line on ice (no trees to force small bends and curves, and I'm able to grave the wire at the far end and with some muscle make it taut and straight (I even moved it a few degrees once that way without having any impediments). I guess you don't have much lake ice down your way... SAUL MARCH 21: Well, BOG on Ice season seems about done fer here. Got up a few hours ago. My SSW wire is out on the lake but got pulled a bit by a snowmobile. Which surprises me given that the lake has had water on top of the ice since I left here, and it's been mostly raining. But a neighbour told me they indeed were out after I left... This wire seems somewhat okay - a bit loopy in the middle but I'll likely have sufficient directionality. The west wire is a different story. A snowmobile took one end for a real ride, and I retrieved the spool end about 30 feet from shore. And I'm lucky to have it. The ice is solid enough in shore, buI could see a large hole maybe 20 feet further, in the direction I would have had to go to set it back out. The spring thaw has arrived. I like DXing, but not enough to risk my life. This wire goes west then arcs south. We'll see what it does. I have set a short wire due south through the woods Cx seem to be heading back to auroral, a bit at least. I'll leave the BOG Ice wires where they are, maybe tinker a bit close to shore where I am safe (just 2-3 feet of water) when it's daylight. And when I leave on Saturday morning I'll pull the wires out for the season. No matter, have a Quantum Loop coming soon in the mail. The Iceman will Cometh back next winter. SAUL, MARCH 22: After dawn today, I looked out, and it was clear the hole in the ice was an exception to the rule, seemed too even and completely surrounded by thick white ice. To get a closer look, put some skis on to distribute my weight and took some other emergency gear and indeed everything is more than solid, though this will definitely be my last ICE BOG DXpedition of the season as I don't think I'll be able to get up here again until mid-late April, and so I will remove the wire when I leave. Salvaged both wires best I could, though have lost the ends off each to snowmobiles. Straightened them and added a bit of wire from my salvage-wire spool. Put the west back in action and on post-sunrise greyline (0830-0900 EDT) nabbed SD 1140, MN 1420 and 1500, WI 1510 with something potentially interesting underneath, WI 1590. Nothing new. But I've not come up here for nought. ILLINOIS, MARCH 22: You do lots better there after sunrise than I do here in IL, since there's too many locals/semi locals on here with day power to clutter up the band. How long are those BOGs on the lake? How good is your daytime reception? Can you get good copy of the Chicago clears? What about WCCO or anything out of WI? SAUL, MARCH 22: I had 1140 SD well after 0900 EDT today. Along with WI, MN, IL and MI - mostly on the upper half of the band. I've been working during the day here, so soon as things begin to fade and there's no potential for new catches, I generally shut it down. I'll take a look tomorrow midday, out of curiosity. I am getting the 1620 out of Lake County IL too frequently for these to be 5 watts. Also getting stuff like 1570 Harvey IL a lot on theb west and even sw BOG. Each is now 300-400 feet. TODAY, MARCH 24: What a difference a few freezing cold nights, close to zero F, make! The ice is solid and thickened from what it was. I'd be stupid to drive a pick-up on it, but it's more than fine with skis to distribute my weight (and it'd be great for skating if I had a pair). I've straightened the wires even more than I did a couple days ago, because cx and performance has been slightly below what I've come to experience thus far. And I've added a small amount of wire to each, and changed the direction a bit. This is easy on ice, because you just tug hard at the far end and move it. Now it's more due west than WSW, and the other is more SW than SSW. Still, even with the downturn in cx/performance described above, I've still netted one new station this last few days - 1490 WIGM in Medford WI. Relogs have included GYers from Duluth MN, at about 600 miles, and several from WI Rice Lake, Fond du Lac etc). Also frequent reception of a supposed 5-watt TIS from Lake County IL on 1620. Hard to believe it's really only 5 watts. Plus assorted regionals from MN, IL, TN, KY and WI. Picking up relatively little off the back or sides, except when cx are truly hot in another direction or when cx drop entirely to the west-sw (ie., daytime semi-locals come in the back). This is something I've really only done this year. I tried it briefly last March for a few days and one night had unprecedented nighttime reception to BC and AB, including new catches such as 930 Edmonton, which I never expected to catch here. I consider this an experiment in progress. I have not run parallel sessions with antennae pointed east and elsewhere through a forest. Though I do have one very short one running south through the woods, mainly to maximize from recent auroral cx. Happy to see any discussion should that emerge. Has anyone else tried this? (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, 24 March, IRCA via DXLD) DRAKE REPAIR FYI and you might want to book mark this for future reference. Here are two sources that repair the older model Drakes. At the following address you will find a number of people listed that repair Drake`s older models. http://www.rldrake.com/support-repair.php This person is named on the address above, along with several others, and I have used him to repair my R-4C. Do call him first before you ship anything. He used to/ may still work for Drake and does repair in home. John Kriner (Southern Ohio) jkriner @ cinci.rr.com | 1-513-422-9059 Also check out this address. These guys I have talked to on the phone in the past, but never used. http://drakerepair.com/ 73's (texas4421, IRCA via DXLD) FCC ANTENNA SHORTED The seal in the Commission Meeting Room may not bother lawyers, but drives engineers crazy and may be a symbol of the state of technical things at FCC. http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/Blog/files/bc7c7a172fadf8ae3f2500358e047d36-205.html (Benn Kobb, DC, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SEA WATER ANTENNA Hi Glenn, As I do all of my SW monitoring from beach locations that are next to the ocean, the following information was especially intriguing to me. Perhaps in the future I might be able to have a sea water antenna, by pumping sea water through this device. By adjusting the height and width of the stream of sea water, it is possible to change the frequency of the antenna. Sounds as if one could fine tune the antenna for a specific frequency range. The antenna is based upon the magnetic induction properties of sodium chloride (salt) in sea water. Of course the cost of such a devise would probably be prohibitive for private civilian use but never the less is a unique idea. http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/TechTransfer/ProductsServices/Pages/SeaWaterAntennaSystem.aspx (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA dxldyg via DXLD) Ron, I watched their video about the saltwater antenna. Very interesting. I guess that coil would cost a lot? Thanks (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) Ron, thanks for that really interesting video. I think it is worth of having it on PC. Here is the DOWNLOAD link [FLV, 19.6 MB]: http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/TechTransfer/ProductsServices/Flash/Seawater_Antenna(480x270).flv Regards, (DrAgan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) We already had something about this a few weeks ago in REF (gh) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also EAST TURKISTAN; INDIA; ROMANIA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RUSSIA; SAUDI ARABIA; SPAIN; UK; PUBS New DRM Receiver Unveiled at NAB 2011 NewStar Receiver Unveiled at NAB 2011 http://www.cdnse.com/products/dr111/ (DRM Newsletter 4/2011 via Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, April 14, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ Since a previous remark I have observed that Good Friday & Easter were not April 15 & 17, but 22 and 24, as the Christians have moved them incredibly late this year. In fact this is the latest they will ever be until 2038 April 25 Easter, that being the absolute latest possible date, (western, not orthodox version) also occurring in 1943y, per http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=413 And the next April 24 Easter will be in --- wait for it --- 2095! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SOLAR ACTIVITY HEATS UP NASA Science News for April 14, 2011 With a burst of solar flares and Northern Lights, the sun is waking up from a three-year slumber. Full story at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/14apr_thewatchedpot/ A video version of this story is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBl_FOONrB0 (via Mike Terry, April 14, dxldyg via DXLD) WWV TO QUIT PROPAGATING PROPAGATION Glenn, don't know if you have heard this yet but at 18 min past each hour there is an announcement on WWV regarding the future of the solar/propagation forecasts, followed by the solar forecast at 19 min past the hour. If you depend on these forecasts, take note because there are plans to discontinue them in early September -- the recording wasn't clear but I think Sept. 5 is the date when these reports, updated every three hours, would cease to exist. Now I wonder about the longterm future of time signals on WWV and WWVH, since other TS services from Japan and Australia, to name some, ended broadcasting some years ago (Joe Hanlon, NJ, April 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O no! I wonder if this results already from the NIST survey. WWV also has an e-mail list sending out the same info every 3 hours, which I sometimes quote in my reports; and also make neat dividers in the Inbox every day. I wonder if that will continue at least (gh, DXLD) USA - 5000 WWV 1118 Apr 13. WWV is now announcing at minute :18 that the solar indices broadcast will be discontinued as of September 6; the indices now follow this announcement at minute :19. No such announcement heard on WWVH, which still has the indices at the usual minute :45 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Geomagnetic activity was at quiet to active levels on 11 April. Activity increased to quiet to minor storm levels on 12 April with major storm periods observed at high latitudes. Activity decreased to quiet to active levels on 13 April with minor to major storm periods observed at high latitudes. Activity decreased to quiet to unsettled levels on 14 April. A further decrease to quiet levels at all latitudes occurred during 15 - 17 April. ACE solar wind observations indicated the activity during 11 - 13 April was associated with a coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). The HSS source was an equatorward extension of the southern polar CH. The CH HSS commenced on 11 April following a negative- to positive-polarity solar sector boundary crossing. Velocities increased during 11 - 12 April, eventually reaching a peak of 674 km/s at 12/1940, then gradually decreased during the rest of the period. Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) changes associated with the onset of the CH HSS included increased Bt (peak 17 nT at 11/2001 UTC) as well as increased Bz variability with intermittent periods of southward Bz (maximum deflection -9 nT at 12/0525 UTC). The CH HSS began to gradually subside on 13 April. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 20 APRIL - 16 MAY 2011 Solar activity is expected to be low with C-class flares likely during the period. There will be a chance for moderate activity (isolated M-class flares) during the second half of the period due to the return of previously active regions. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels during most of the period. However, high flux levels are expected during 22 - 23 April, 30 April - 03 May, and 11 - 13 May. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be to be at quiet to unsettled levels during 20 - 22 April due to weak coronal hole effects on 20 - 21 April and weak coronal mass ejection effects on 22 April (associated with the Earth-directed CME observed on 15 April). Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during 23 - 27 April. Field activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 28 April - 01 May due to recurrent coronal hole effects. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during 02 - 07 May. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 08 - 11 May due to recurrent coronal hole effects. Quiet conditions are expected during 12 - 16 May. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2011 Apr 19 1900 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2011-04-19 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2011 Apr 20 110 10 3 2011 Apr 21 110 10 3 2011 Apr 22 115 10 3 2011 Apr 23 115 5 2 2011 Apr 24 115 5 2 2011 Apr 25 110 5 2 2011 Apr 26 110 5 2 2011 Apr 27 110 5 2 2011 Apr 28 110 7 3 2011 Apr 29 110 15 4 2011 Apr 30 115 12 3 2011 May 01 115 8 3 2011 May 02 115 5 2 2011 May 03 115 5 2 2011 May 04 110 5 2 2011 May 05 110 5 2 2011 May 06 105 5 2 2011 May 07 105 5 2 2011 May 08 105 8 3 2011 May 09 110 15 4 2011 May 10 115 15 4 2011 May 11 120 7 3 2011 May 12 120 5 2 2011 May 13 120 5 2 2011 May 14 115 5 2 2011 May 15 110 5 2 2011 May 16 115 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1561, DXLD) ###